Five Easy Flower Arrangements

Today, Paige (also of Mudroom Boston) shares 4 quick steps to, and 5 examples of, easy flower arrangements:

One of my favorite forms of art is floral arranging. It need not be inexpensive and you end up with a beautiful end result really fast. Many people find flower arranging daunting, so they buy a pre-arranged bouquet, pull it out of its cellophane wrapping, and stick it in a vase (and then wonder why it doesn't look quite right!). Today I'm here to help with a super easy how-to prepping and arranging flowers, including five easy flower arrangements.
1. Pick your flowers. There's no need to make a special trip to get flowers, just hit the floral department on your next trip to the grocery store. Take a few minutes to survey your options and decide what flowers you're drawn to and go from there. For basic arranging, all you have to do is choose one color OR one type of flower. If you decide to go with one color, choose at least three flowers that have a variety of textures and sizes (for example, roses, alstroemeria, and hydrangea).

2. Clean and clip. Take your flowers home and unwrap them. Pull off any broken stems, browning leaves, or bruised petals and trim the stems at a 45-degree angle. While you can use kitchen scissors in a pinch, I recommend investing a pair of floral snips. I use these Fiskars pruning snips; inexpensive and totally worth it.

3. Choose a container. Are you creating a small arrangement for a bedside table? A centerpiece for your dining room? Whether it's a canning jar, metal bucket, or traditional vase, choose a container that will reflect the room or event for which the arrangement is being made.

4. Have fun arranging! Start by placing the largest flowers in the container as your anchors, then the next size down, then the smallest. If the arrangement doesn't look right, pull some out and trim their length. And be sure to look at the arrangement from all angles.

Easy, right? Here are 5 easy flower arrangements to inspire you:

1. Just picked. If there's a single type of flower you love, run with it! Pick one type/color and place it in a canning jar.

2. The lone bloom. For a voluminous flower such as a hydrangea, one bloom in a bubble vase makes a simple and lovely "arrangement."

3. White-on-white. Different sizes and textures of white flowers in a white container make for an elegant arrangement.

4. Color blocked. Follow fashion's love of color blocking with flowers; pick 3-4 bright colors and place them in small groups in one container.

5. Baby julep. This twist on a traditional julep cup arrangement places short trimmed roses in a silver baby cup.

Image credits: first image via Amazon; all other images via Paige Lewin