Flower Arrangements

Flower arrangement is an art that first originated centuries ago and traveled all over the world, taking different forms in different countries is now a part of our lives. Flower arrangements first appeared in Classical Greek and Roman times and went on to be defined as an art in Europe from the 14th 17th centuries before turning east to America, China, and Japan.

The principles of traditional flower arrangements are balance, harmony, proportion, and color. All flower arrangements, if done in the traditional style, must embody these principles. These designs are inherited from an earlier time and are said to be decorative and appealing to our senses of touch, smell, and color in their form, texture, and fragrance.

If you have a garden that you would like to use for arranging flowers, find a vase you would like to use and support it with a base to stick flowers into. Cut flowers from your garden early in the morning, as the stems contain more water in them than later in the day and wont wilt as quickly, then synchronize the color of your flowers with your environment. Of course, with practice, you can do much more inventing as you go along.

Since flower arranging is an art, how your arrangement looks finally depends on its creator. You can custom design your flower arrangements to suit a variety of occasions such as a wedding, corporate event, anniversary, or birthday. You can also make flower arrangements from all kinds of materials such as fresh flowers, dried flowers, silk flowers, and paper flowers. You can dress up your life with well designed flower arrangements. Choose, innovate, and create the magic of flower arrangements for fun and style.

By Ken Marlborough

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How to Create Flower Arrangements

Cut flowers are a wonderful way to bring the beauty indoors. As well as making nice bouquets of flowers, they smell good too. There are several flower bulbs that make very nice vases of flowers. Some examples include but are not limited to irises, gladiola, lilies, and daffodils. Flower arrangements make delightful bouquets for the office or for special occasions, such as baby showers or dinner parties. People love to treat their eyes to the sight of beautiful flowers, and anybody can create a nice flower arrangement.

To start you will need a vase half full with water and a pair of scissors. Then head out to the flower patch. When cutting the stems on flower bulbs, be sure to cut the stem at an angle.

Also, the longer the stems are, the longer the blooms will last. One other thing to keep in mind while making cut flower arrangements is the colors of the flowers. Some colors can drastically change the affect of a flower arrangement.
For an arrangement that will be placed in front of a wall and viewed from three sides follow these easy steps.

1. Cut any leaves off that will be in the water if left. This will help keep the water from getting scummy.

2. Start by placing the tallest cut flowers in the vase first, facing the blooms toward you in a fan like position. They will be to the back of the bouquet.

3. Then in front and to the sides of the tallest flowers begin to place the next tallest flowers in the vase. The blooms in the center of the flower arrangement should be facing towards you. The blooms to the right side should be turned slightly to the right. Likewise, the blooms to the left side should be turned slightly to the left.

4. Continue in this fashion until you finish placing all but the shortest flowers in the arrangement.

5. Personally, I always place the shortest flowers close to the top rim or slightly above the vase rim. It seems to fill in and finish the flower arrangement.

If you find that flower arrangement is top heavy, just get a larger vase that holds enough water to support the weight of the flowers. To create a vase of flowers that will be a viewed from all sides is a little different from the above procedure. It works much better if the stems are about the same size. Also it will help if the vase opening is only slightly larger than all of the stems put together.

1. Start by placing the tallest cut flowers in the vase first, facing the blooms outward in all directions. They will be in the center of the flower arrangement.

2. Then all the way around the vase place the next tallest flowers until completed.

If the cut flowers that you have selected lack leaves and the flower arrangement looks a bit stemy, just add some. Just about any leafy plant will work. For example, you can easily add a couple leafy cutting from a bush. Just trim the leaves that will be in the water off.

Making a flower arrangement is that simple. Have fun, be creative, and enjoy the wonderful aroma.

By Kathy Case

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Christmas Flower Arrangements

You can dress up your home this Christmas with a flower arrangement so spectacular youll wonder how you did it on your own. Traditional arrangements come in a happy mix of green, red, and white fresh Christmas flowerspoinsettiasand include Christmas cactus, holly with green leaves and red berries, but you can bring about the same effect with silk flowers.

Your silk flower arrangement for Christmas will add an extra touch of beauty to your decorations for the festive season, besides being economical and long lasting. They are also very easy to do and can be done much before the season begins.

To make a beautiful Christmas silk flower arrangement, you will need a container, floral adhesive, and pair of pliers to bend wires, wire cutters, flora tape, foam and tape.

You will need to choose a container for Christmas silk flower arrangement that is neither too wide nor too narrow but certainly lightweight. Make a large silk floral arrangement in an urn-shaped container.

Now, select flowers of different textures to lend variety to your flower arrangement. Their colors should also match those of your room and give it a festive look. Before you buy silk poinsettias, holly or red berries, look at their edges. If they are frayed or damaged, reject them for those that look fresh and natural.

Next, begin arranging your flowers. Open each flower carefully so that it is wide open and reveals its actual shape. Stick the stems of the flowers into the foam. Lengthen the stems by attaching a piece of floral wire at the end of the stem with floral tape.

Continue to make your Christmas silk flower arrangement with varying sizes of stems. This will lend a good shape to your arrangement and add to the beauty of the arrangement.

By Ken Marlborough

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