A gorgeous display of flowers can really enhance a table, mantlepiece or windowsill, and it’s surprisingly easy to create a stunning arrangement yourself. Clever use of colourful blooms and unusual containers can really lift your floral display, and there are plenty of techniques you can use to make sure your arrangements always look amazing.
In this article, we take a look at some easy flower arrangements that look fantastic but don’t require florist-level expertise. We’ve gathered 15 flower arrangement ideas that you can try for yourself, along with some professional tips to make the displays extra special.
Preparing your flowers
Before you begin work on your display, florist Simon Lycett recommends getting both your flowers and your work station ready. Start by trimming the flowers. Cut the base of each stem at an angle, then strip away any leaves or side stems. This is because if your flowers need to stand in water, submerged foliage will rot.
Next, arrange the flowers on your work bench by type, so it’s easy to grab what you need. Lay out anything else you may need, such as scissors, ribbon, florist’s wire and a temporary container of water. Make sure your chosen vase or other display vessel is clean and ready to go.
Easy floral design ideas
We hope these flower arrangement ideas inspire you to create your own displays. Let’s run through our 15 easy flower arrangement ideas.
1. Table top posies
These table-top posies are perfect for tea parties. Pretty much any flowers will work with this arrangement, provided they’re cheerful and there are plenty of them. Cut the stems short to create a compact and full display. For an extra pretty touch, wrap the vase or jars with ribbon, lace or any other fabric offcut.
2. Natural-looking displays
Easy floral design ideas don’t have to look simple, as this modern flower arrangement shows. The focus here is to keep the display loose and natural-looking, which works wonderfully well with wildflowers. You can add extra interest with foliage or sprigs. If you have one, use a plain, earthy coloured vase.
3. A burst of colour
Here’s a top tip for the novice flower arranger – make it colourful. If your display is made up from bright and vibrant blooms, it will always look fabulous. When you’re choosing your stems, hold different colours up together to see what works. It may be that brilliantly clashing tones actually look the best together. Just experiment with colour to see what you like.
4. Architectural arrangements
It’s surprisingly straightforward to create an architectural floral arrangement. Choose a tall container then add a bit of drama to your display with some puss* willow or dogwood stems. Flowers such as lilies and gladioli are naturally architectural and are a super-easy way to create a showstopping display.
5. Bold blooms
Again, let the flowers do the work for you. Full and bold-looking blooms like dahlias, lilies, peonies, double-headed daffodils and foxgloves don’t need much arranging. Prepare them, choose a vase that suits the flowers’ height and spread, and there you go – a beautiful, no-fuss floral display.
6. Informal arrangements
Jam jars or old-fashioned glass milk bottles filled with simple flowers always look good. Choose bright blooms like sweetpeas, sweet williams or narcissi, and keep plenty of foliage on them for an informal look. Just make sure you trim off leaves and side stems that are going below the waterline, so they don’t rot.
7. Unusual containers
Why use a vase when you could display your blooms in something more interesting? An old enamel jug gives your display a charming vintage feel, while mason jars and jam jars are perfect for smaller posies. Give your arrangement a gardening theme by using a watering can as a vase, or if you’ve got a lot of flowers to display, simply arrange them in a galvanised bucket.
8. Focus on the foliage
You don’t actually need flowers to make a stunning display, and the beauty of a foliage-based design is that you can find something to work with at any time of year. From festive evergreens to delicate springtime leaves, simply have a look around your garden and see what might look good. Think about height and texture, and play around with different shades of green. Add sprigs of red leaves for contrast if you can.
9. Single blooms
For a classic look, cut a single stem and display it in a bud vase. Unlike most of our other flower decoration ideas, this is more fiddly than its elegantly simple appearance suggests. The trick is to find the perfect proportion of flower to vase: a stem that’s twice the height of the vessel will look elegant, but might droop. A slim-necked vase will help support your bloom and prevent it from hanging down, or choose a flower with a more rigid stem like a rose. As an alternative to a larger arrangement, display a collection of single flowers in bud vases.
10. Reliable roses
“Reliable” isn’t the most romantic adjective for this famously lovely flower, but as florist Simon Lycett says, “Roses just arrange themselves”. Your main task when planning a rose display is choosing the secondary blooms, if any, and finding the right vessel that shows off the delicate flowers. If you want your roses to look tall and elegant, the vase needs to be around half the height of the flowers. Select the best-looking rose to go in the centre of the display then arrange the others around it, their stems criss-crossing below the water line.
11. Dried flower display
You arrange dried flowers in exactly the same way as you would any floral display, except you have to remember not to add water. Start with the feature flowers to give the arrangement both focus and structure, then keep adding the secondary flowers until you achieve the level of fullness you’re aiming for. The great advantage of using dried flowers is that you won’t have to keep replacing the blooms. Although you will need to gently dust them.
12. A cup of Rosie
“Rosie Lee” is co*ckney rhyming slang for “a cup of tea”; however in this case, it’s been taken rather literally. Using a china teacup as a vessel for a rose or roses is a charming idea for an afternoon tea table. A nice plump rose or peony is a perfect fit for a teacup but of course, you can use any short bloom you choose.
13. Add fairy lights
“Add fairy lights” is a great solution to many interior design questions. Choose lightweight string lights that won’t weigh down the flowers and foliage, and ideally have a watertight battery compartment (indoor-outdoor lights are the best). Carefully weave the lights among the flowers for a display that looks just as good at night as it does in daylight.
14. Pure romance: flowers and candles
Simon Lycett loves combining flowers and candles to create eye-catching centrepieces.
“As florists we adore using candles in as many ways as we can. They just cast the most gorgeous, flattering, flickering light over flowers – and over us”.
The simplest way is to use a nice, stable candle and wrap its base with foliage. Simon suggests popping a rubber band round a pillar candle and threading stems through it to cover the wax. Woody stems like rosemary or lavender look and smell divine.
15. Bootiful blooms
Here’s a fun idea for gardeners: flowers displayed in old boots. You’ll need to gently poke small containers like jam jars inside the boots, or taller vessels if you’re using a pair of wellies. Choose varieties that will drape slightly over the top of the boots to disguise the vases.
All these floral arrangement ideas are easy to achieve at home and don’t need any complicated equipment or mechanics – you can even raid the recycling to find the right glass containers. As Simon Lycett always says, “Have a go!” Play around with these flower decoration ideas until you find your own floral arrangement style.
For many more wonderful ideas, take a look at florist Simon Lycett’s BBC Maestro course, Decorating with Flowers. He’ll take you through how to create all sorts of magical floral arrangements, from decorating with dried flowers to creating perfect table displays.
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