With any list of flower arrangement tips and “Do’s”, there is should always be an accompanying list of “Dont’s”. Here are a few key “Do not’s” when it comes to creating beautiful flower arrangements.

Flower Arrangement Dont’s:

• Change the water once an arrangement is made but top it up with fresh water each day.
• Overlook the value of a charcoal tablet in the water, to keep it pure.
• Forget that most leaves should be submerged in water for hours, preferably overnight, to help them retain their firmness.
• Place wilted roses in cold water. Instead re-cut and split the stems and thrust into two inches of boiling water and leave until cool. Protect the blooms from the steam by wrapping them in paper. Afterwards arrange them in water in the usual manner.
• Forget that Mimosa can be treated in the same way, which will help it retain its fluffy appearance. A little sugar in the water is also useful.
• Place two flowers level with each other when making a mass arrangement.
• Forget that Violets absorb moisture through their petals when cut, so they need not reach water in an arrangement. Should they wilt they can be revived by submersion in water.
• Forget to scrape the stem ends of such flowers as Chrysanthemums, Stocks, Marigold and other plants of the semi-woody variety. This removes the outer substance and avoids bacteria forming slime which blocks the intake of water.
• Push the flowers upright into a vase. Make the lower ones flow out almost horizontally to gain extra dimension and effect.
• Be discouraged if some flowers are too short to take their place in a design: try placing them in a hollow stem of another longer flower which will feed the smaller one through its own intake of water.
• Always accept your material just as it comes. Trim it to suit the shape you desire.
• Be disappointed if the stems of your flowers are too fine to insert on a pin holder. Try covering the holder with some thin moss first or tie a few stems together and insert them as a bunch.

Here are a few simple flower arrangement tips for the beginner. Each of these little tips can make a drastic different in the overall look of your unique design.

• Take off all leaves below the water line, otherwise they foul the water.
• Try recessing some flowers in order to get depth to your arrangement.
• Place a base under a top-heavy arrangement.
• Make a circular arrangement in a circular vase.
• Use square or oblong containers when angular designs are required.
• Crush or split the ends of all woody material before placing it in an arrangement.
• Group varieties and colours instead of dotting them about in the design.
• Make sure there is water in the container before commencing the arrangement, otherwise the stem ends will dry over.
• Give your flowers hours of drinking before arranging them. This will make them turgid and help them to last longer.
• Make your first placement very firm. The rest of the arrangement must be built around it.
• Remove the leaves from some woody stemmed flowers to allow more water to reach the blooms.
• Subtly cover the rim of the vase with drooping material in order to make the flowers and vase appear as one unit.
• Make an arrangement every day and feel the sense of achievement.

In making flower arrangements for various parts of the home, there is much less strain for effect, than when designing an arrangement for the Flower Show.

This is natural, of course, for in show work you are following a schedule and are aiming at recognition by the judges, whereas in the privacy of your home, you either do as you like, or if you are in the mood, you will enjoy matching the colour scheme of the room, or even making a special design to suit the setting or purpose.

Ornaments, which are already prized possessions and fit in happily to the settled arrangement of a room, will be brought into use as flower containers in home decoration, and if you are the happy possessor of a garden, you will surely enjoy using seasonal flowers picked from the border or cutting garden.

If you are new to the art of flower arranging, you will happily cut whatever is in bloom, but as you become more absorbed in this fascinating subject, you will make sure that the garden provides you with the colours, textures, sizes of flowers and foliage you need. I would here advise you to study carefully your seed and shrub lists and visit your local nurseryman whenever possible.

My advice to those who live in Town is to seek out a florist who is also an artist. Make friends with her and let her know that you are interested in flower arranging and I am sure she will provide you with all the branches, foliage and odd pieces you will ever need. She will be interested in you as an artist and a customer, but one word of warning, I appeal to all amateur flower artists not to trespass into the domain of the professional florist. Theirs is a hard won and exacting profession requiring years of study and experience to become expert, so while the flower arranger can enjoy practicing her hobby in her home or the homes of her friends, even in Church or small intimate affairs, I do suggest that large decorations for weddings, banquets, bouquets and corsages, be left to those whose profession and livelihood it is.

As the flower arranger progresses in the study of this fascinating art, she will want to learn the secret of making distinctive and original compositions and one of the most frequent questions I am asked when judging shows or speaking from the platform is ” What constitutes originality in flower arranging? ”

Originality is a quality very difficult to define although I would say it springs from a mental awareness of the subject in question and a strong desire to do something ‘ different.’ To be original is to act or think for oneself, in other words not to imitate; 1 would therefore say that the conception of an original arrangement would spring from a personal idea, which after germinating in your mind, you would interpret with flowers and other material necessary.

But how to find the ideas might be the next question. Ideas can come from many sources, especially if you are constantly on the lookout for various materials in different shapes, sizes and colours. In fact when your eyes have become accustomed to ‘seeing’ unusual items, you will not fail to find an idea.

How To Keep Your Arrangements Original

Dramatic MATERIAL is one item that will sometimes suggest an original arrangement and here I would suggest that you do not always think in terms of flowers. Some flowers are very unusual in form, but do not overlook the possibilities of certain foliage, berries and seed pods. These used separately or in combination with other material will often place an unusual stamp upon the design.

An unusual container will also lead you to the making of an out of the ordinary arrangement. Antique and junk shops offer any amount of ideas, and with your mind trained to design, you will easily be able to visualise the shape of an arrangement to fit the container. You could even fashion your own from shells, branches, logs, plaster or stone.

Accessories, such as china models or ornaments should be used with discretion, but they should not be frowned upon for often they are the main-spring of the idea behind the design. If the ornament is interesting, try to tie in the whole arrangement with it, by making the design in accordance with its shape, colour or size.

Contrast of material and dramatic lines play an important part in original arrangements, but whatever you decide to dramatize, emphasize this one point, and do not confuse the issue by using an unusual container with lots of dramatic material, adding an accessory in an effort to be different.

There are many other ways of obtaining a start, but I give you here a few more ideas that will surely find a place in your list of things to do, sometime.

Original Flower Arrangement Ideas

For arrangements for special occasions try:

• Using the grocer’s scales, making an arrangement of fruit one side and flowers the other for Harvest Festival.
• For a festive party, make garlands of flowers or leaves threaded on coloured string and fix these to the door or up the balustrade with bows of ribbon.
• A young girl’s party can economically yet appropriately be decorated with large bunches of white Gypsophila tied with a. bow of ribbon as focal interest.
• Place an empty wine or champagne bottle surrounded by flowers in an ice bucket, and back this with posters from the steamship companies or air lines for a “Bon Voyage” party.
• Make an arrangement of grasses, reeds, bulrushes, stones and stand this on a flat mirror to represent a lake. Add a porcelain duck to the scene and cross two guns behind it for the “Duck Shoot.”
• Try to interpret the reason for your arrangement and you will not miss being original.

For focal interest try using:

• Green pods of Horse Chestnuts, Lime flower panicles, fruit, sprays of black or red Currants, Hazel nut groups. Oak apples, gourds, peppers, Currant Tomatoes, Sycamore seed sprays, Berries, Funkia leaves.

Try these clever combinations:

• Pink Roses and pale green Wheat.
• Blue Spruce and Echinops.
• White Statice and Helichrysums in a black vase.
• Sprays of Weeping Willow and pressed back white Tulips in a wine cooler.
• An arrangement in varying shades of green.
• Centralised Violets with drooping Fuchsia at the sides.
• White Pampas Crass for height, ferns one side, Broom the other and cluster of Honesty in the centre.
• Mushrooms on sticks in a green and white design.

Try these items as containers for a change:

• Goldfish bowls or gas light globes.
• Silver entree dishes, sauceboats, platters and loving cups.
• Baskets, birdcages and painted hanging wire baskets.
• Odd tea pots or choice cups and saucers.
• Painted glucose or cocoa fins. Split and roll edges back.
• Wooden sabots with tin lining.
• Bark wood filled with damp moss.
• Old fashioned sweet jars or even hurricane lamp globes.
• Scooped out marrows, melons and gourds for country material.
• Tankards or small copper jugs for wall arrangements.
• If you are caught without a holder, try using a large potato cut in half. Press this to the base of the dish and insert the flowers or leaves in the potato. If necessary make holes first.

The most repeated difficulty I have met during my constant travels to talk to the uninitiated, has been how to convey the meaning of such a vast subject as flower arranging, in the short space of one afternoon or evening.

I finally developed a theory to prove that if different forms of material were used in the correct placements according to three basic principles, anyone, and I really mean anyone, could make a flower arrangement.

I found that an audience was not helped very much by watching lovely and intricate arrangements made by an expert. They were entertained, yes, and full of admiration for all they saw, but they either had no similar material to use themselves, or they did not know why it had been used and so little advance was made.

I wanted to make my students feel. I wanted them to say ” Why, I could do that,” and I finally preferred working to some simple rules that would give them encouragement and evoke their own ideas rather than making elaborate designs, for it is the sense of personal achievement in creating a simple design that thrills a novice and urges her to attempt more ambitious arrangements later.

Flower Arranging Principles

Most teachers develop their own approach to students and I do not presume that all agree with me but in order to help those who are continuing the good work of helping others, I repeat that my simplified theory is to remember three moves:

(i) the outline or design
(ii) filling in
(iii) the focal interest ; and in order to translate these moves effectively, material of different sizes and forms should be employed.

For instance:

• Type A (Points): tall, fine, pointed material for the outline.
• Type B (Fillers): shorter, rounder and spray material for filling in.
• Type C (Dominants): larger and heavier textured blooms, deep or dominant colours, anything to give visual weight for focal interest.

Under the heading of Points (Type A) would come such flowers as Delphiniums, Lythrum, Antirrhinums, Gladioli, Golden Rod, Loosestrife. Pointed foliage such as the leaves of Flax, Privet, Gladiolus, Iris, Artichoke, Carnation, Grevillia would also be included in Type A material, just as would slim branches of Forsythia, Yew, Pussy Willow, and the like. Fine grasses, bare branches and buds all come in this category, and when you are accustomed to design you will appreciate that these points are so placed on the outside of the design, so as not to hold your eye interest. This pointed material should lead your eye to the centre of the arrangement, where it should be held by the more important material.

Type B or Filler material, as I call it, can include such flowers as Sweet Williams, Marguerites, spray Chrysanthemums, Scabiosa, Sweet Peas and many others. Certain leaves could be included here, in fact any material that is broader than Type A is suitable for these secondary placements.

Type C or Dominant material can include most of the larger round flowers, or those which are arresting because of their peculiar shape or variety. Roses, which are often termed the Queen of Flowers, are good Type C material, for they demand to be seen in a prominent place. Peonies, Rhododendron, large clusters of smaller flowers come under Type C heading; also any large leaves such as Magnolia, Laurel, Pasony, Kale, Rhododendron and others.

Clusters of berries and fruit also are Type C and do remember that material of white, pale pink and pale yellow can be as dominant in a design as the most carefully chosen deep coloured material. It is the size and their importance that count.

Materials, which are prominent, important or heavier in texture, are used as focal interest because they give visual weight at this point where all the other spreading stems should unite. In other words, all the material should appear to spring from this unifying weight, or, conversely, if you contemplate the outside of the design first, the points should lead your eye to it. Please do not think that just one large flower will give the best focal interest. Try to make this area arresting by subtle placements. Five flowers of varying sizes might be more interesting, three flowers surrounded by leaves might prove an excellent solution, a rosette of Rhododendron leaves, from the centre of which might spring some berries, would be quite effective.

In other words, try to avoid placing an obvious blob in the centre, aim at interest through subtlety. As you progress in your study and appreciation of the finer points, you will perhaps do without focal interest altogether, although by the fact that you have correctly placed your stems it will be there.

When you review this short reference to flower forms, you will realise how easy it is to make an effective flower arrangement, in fact, at the risk of being called assertive, I would urge those of you who are beginners to repeat quite often to yourself these words: Outline, fill in, focal point, using points, fillers, and dominants, in the order of tall, shorter, short. Easy isn’t it?

You can translate these moves with a mass of assorted material or in a shallow plate you could use a bare branch for tall line, some leaves for filling in, and a pinecone or a large flower for low interest.

I have repeatedly pointed out that it is only after these moves become automatic in thought and execution that your mind is left free for creation. It is then that the real joy of this expressive art commences, for with mental freedom you can then make an arrangement in a certain manner because you feel like it. You will express your personal desires without having to stop and ask yourself where to place the material.

It may be that you will make a striking design of red gladioli and yellow sunflowers for a gay cocktail party, or an exquisite arrangement of pink roses and blue ceonoth is for an intimate dinner by candlelight. You might even place three Funkia leaves to represent ship sails in a low dish of water, in which stands the figure of a Chinaman, and call this Slow Boat to China. Why not, if it expresses what you mean. The possibilities are endless, and I would suggest that you do not be afraid of criticism. There should be freedom of expression, so open your eyes and minds. Try anything and everything until you are confident of your own feelings.

There may be many occasions when you do not feel like making an arrangement or when other demands claim your time; it is then that you just place your flowers in water, but deep down it is very satisfying to know that you can create a picture if you wish.

Those who do not wish to delve deeply into this art may not want to read any further, feeling that the pictures will illustrate many of the points already mentioned. Others may want to be carried a step further desiring to know how to understand, dissect or analyse an artistic composition of flowers, so let us look at some of the terms used as principles in the art of flower arrangement.

Common Flower Arrangement Terms

Design

This is the structural pattern of the arrangement; it decides the shape, height or width and consists of a planned relationship between the flowers, leaves, container and location of the room.

Any design can be produced to suit any occasion, but some of the most accepted designs used are those variations of the triangle, rectangle, oval, circle, vertical irregular triangle, crescent and low half circle.

Balance

This is the grouping of plant materials within the design, so placed to give a feeling of stability. There can be two types of balance – symmetric and asymmetric. In the former, if you draw an imaginary line down through the centre of the vase, both sides of the arrangement appear equal, and usually made with similar material, whereas in the latter the two sides can be distinctly different and yet have equal visual weight. For instance, along swerve of fine material, such as Michaelmas daisies, at the left of a design can be balanced by a shorter placement of heavier material, perhaps of chrysanthemums or leaves, at the right nearer the centre. Greater interest is achieved this way because the sides are not equal, yet they are equally balanced. It is similar to obtaining balance on a see-saw, by placing a heavy man at the right near the central axis and a fragile child on the end at the left.

Colour

Colour is a vast subject, and is very important in flower arrangements. Colour can be used harmoniously or in contrast. Attention should also be paid to the colour of foliage, especially if used as a buffer between two harsh colours.

Colour affects our senses, so remember that gay and striking effects can be gained by using the warm colours, such as red, yellow, and orange while more soothing and delicate effects can be obtained by using blue-pinks, mauves, blue and purple and grey foliage.

Subtle blending of all one colour from pale to dark are also very effective, but try to remember that we are sometimes blinded by the beauty of the colour of flowers, and, important though colour is, it cannot stand on its own in an arrangement without good design.

Focal point

This is sometimes termed the ‘ Target,’ ‘ Highlight,’ the ‘ Heart,’ of the design, the ‘Accent,’ it is the centre of interest in an arrangement. It is the point in the design where all the stems unite, and the place where the most important material should be placed. Important, I mean, either for size, colour, dominance or texture.

Scale

Scale is also important and materials should be chosen so that they are related in size, not only to each other, but to the container and background. It would be incongruous to place Lilies of the Valley with a large Dahlia. Similarly, a large incurved Chrysanthemum used as focal interest in a narrow necked vase would be out of scale, whereas the same bloom placed low in a large round flat plate would be in scale.

Rhythm

Rhythm is a feeling of motion, and is achieved in flower arrangement by the placement of curving lines and graduating sizes leading towards the centre and on again. These lines are part of the original design and are placed in rhythmic curves before the ” filling in ” material is added.

Composition

Composition is the unifying of several objects into an overall framework. It is the joining up of flowers and vase with an ornament, accessory, picture or other item. Rhythm is usually very evident in good composition as interest should lead the eye from one item to another.

Line

Line is the passage on which your eye is led from one item to another in the arrangement. Each bud, leaf or flower, by its size or colour should be so placed as to take your eye from a starting point to the central point of interest where it should rest. If you remove all colour from a flower arrangement, such as unfortunately happens in a black and white photograph, an arrangement with good line should still emerge successfully from this acid test.