Flower Arranging Basics

Creating flower arrangements is easy and fun. Start with these basic tips and "branch" out with your own stylish ideas.

Flower arranging employs many simple art techniques to create the proper balance of style and colors. All you really need is a container and the perfect combination of foliage and flowers. It's so easy.

First, there are there major groups of flower arranging styles: line, mass, and the combination of both, which is called line-mass. Line arrangements are elegant and utilize long sweeping forms, while mass arrangements use an array of complementary hues and flower species to create a variety of dense shapes. The line-mass design will be a restricted blend of mass and line flowers and/or greenery.

Any type of container can be used; however, line arrangements typically look best in low bowls.

Each arrangement is developed with the occasion, the placement, and the environment in mind. That will also affect the type of container.

Keeping flowers in place is not easy and there are several options:

-floral foam, either wet or day (wet is preferable and it will have to be soaked first)
-floral frog - this is essentially any type of holder, but can be in a variety of shapes and materials. It may have holes in it and can even be shaped like an actual frog! They are collectible as well.
-chicken wire - can either cover floral foam or be bent and anchored in the container by itself. Works best with bunched flower stems.
-floral clay - can anchor frogs and wire in a container and will accept stems.

Regardless of arrangement, flowers can be arranged in a "natural" or "stylized" design. Natural means that the flow and form of the foliage will be similar to its original growing state; stylized means that you will create the arrangement in a forced shape, such as a dome or triangle.

When planning the shape of an arrangement, you can choose between symmetrical or asymmetrical alignment. That's up to you, but typically, line arrangements are asymmetrical while mass flowers are built in a symmetrical fashion.

Flowers and greenery are chosen according to color balance, shape, and texture. Balance is important and no component should compete with another; they should instead blend to lead the eye from one part of the arrangement to another.

The variations in flower arranging are endless and it is almost impossible to make mistakes. Your only aim is to achieve a creation that has depth, color, emotion, and you can't go wrong.