flower arranging 101

Perhaps the quickest, easiest and most satisfying way to bring sensual delight into your life is to fill your space with fresh flowers. Flowers super-charge our sensory-deprived offices and homes with intense color, fragile beauty and sweet aromas. Here is a crash course on the fundamentals of floral arranging: may your inner artist bloom.

“You don’t need lots of money or exotics to make a wonderful arrangement,” says Los Angeles-based landscape architect and floral designer Philip Castiglia. “The main thing to remember is to select flowers that are in good condition. “

Before you start arranging your flowers, Castiglia offers these guidelines for readying the most beautiful blooms:

Only buy flowers with firm petals or with buds that show color to ensure the flowers will develop fully. Avoid bruised or wilted blossoms.

Always buy flowers when they are in bud or half open: this increases their longevity. Look for strong stems and firm heads. These have less chance of breaking.

Use thoroughly clean vases. This prevents any bacteria from ruining the quality of the flowers.

Remove all leaves or buds which will be under water while in the vase. Submerged green matter will rot, thus creating bacteria and shortening the flowers’ life span. Leaves or buds in water also create a rotten odor.

Cut stems at an angle. This gives the stem a bigger area to take up more water, and stops it resting on the bottom of the vase and thus preventing water uptake.

Flowers drink more water when they are first arranged. Check water level at night and again in the morning.

Never place flowers in sunshine or over a radiator. This will cause excess water and they will wilt. For maximum longevity, the best place for flowers is in the shady part of a cool room.

In the morning and at night, lightly spray the arrangement with a misting bottle full of room temperature water to create a humid atmosphere around the flowers.

Place flowers in lukewarm water to prevent air bubbles in the stem that will block water uptake. Lukewarm water encourages some flowers to open up. Note: spring bulb flowers such as hyacinths, daffodils and tulips prefer to drink cold water.

tool specifics

Of course you can create a charming bouquet using just scissors or a sharp knife, but Castiglia counsels that for serious arranging, you will need a sharp knife for general cutting and splicing, floristry shears for trimming soft stems and pruners for snipping tough stems. Other essentials include gardening gloves, a midsize bucket, a spray bottle and plastic bags. Depending on the arrangement you dream up, you may need a piece of floral foam (a lightweight spongy material) to help hold fairly stiff stems in place.

Source your floral tools at hardware stores or garden supply centers. “Buy the best tools that you can afford,” Castiglia counsels. Choose durable tools with ergonomically comfortable grips, strong steel edges and easy-to-clean parts.

preparing to arrange

If given proper; immediate attention, carefully tended flowers can stay firm and fresh for a week or longer. Once flowers are brought home, trim stems so they can absorb more water. Then place blooms in a deep bucket of lukewarm water until you are ready to start arranging. (If you are working with spring bulb flowers such as hyacinths, daffodils, tulips or paper whites, put them in water that is cold.)

Blossoms with woody or heavy stems, such as forsythia, roses, lilacs, and dogwoods, do not absorb water readily, Castiglia notes. “For best water uptake, make a one-inch slit up the center of each stem,” he advises.

When it comes to cut flower food, most flowers thrive on the stuff and live longer. One major exception to this is tulips. Floral additives give flowers sugar, which stimulates growth, bacteria-fighting compounds, and other nourishment that helps blooms stay stronger longer.

the artful arrangement

Here are Castiglia’s golden rules of flower arranging:

Define the purpose of the flowers. Do you want the most fragrant flowers you can find to scent your space? Are they the focal point in the room, or are the flowers background ornamentation? Especially if you are bringing flowers into the office, you want to avoid overpoweringly large displays.

Evaluate scale. Be sure that your bouquet harmonizes with the vase or container size. A bouquet should be about one to one-and-a-half times as tall as the vase, says Castiglia. Use a container that is in proportion to the amount of flowers. Too small a container will not hold enough water, and they may dry out. Too large a container creates scale problems and dwarfs the beauty of the blooms.

Arrange from the center and work your way out. This method keeps stems and flower heads safe from wear and tear should you add any blossoms or branches at the end. Greenery is always to be added last.

Create easy arrangements for starters. “It’s much easier to combine different colored flowers of the same type than to combine a variety of colors and textures,” says Castiglia.

For a soothing bouquet, arrange flowers of the same color. If you want a peaceful bouquet, combine flowers in the same color range, such as white roses, Gerbera daisies, jasmine, etc.

For maximum visual impact, arrange a variety of shades and textures in one bouquet. “Place a layer of pebbles, seashells, marbles or whatever in the bottom of a clear glass vase for visual drama and to help anchor the bottom of the stems,” says Castiglia. Use a block of floral foam to anchor stems inside a container; use your imagination,” he urges.

Flower arranging is an art that offers a lot of freedom, Castiglia stresses. “But if you are time-crunched and urgently need an unforgettable bouquet, you can also order one from an online organic flower source,” he says. “Organic flowers are all grown without pesticides, herbicides or fungicides, just as Mother Nature intended.”

To learn more about floral arranging, go to online encyclopedic sources such as HGTV.com at: www.hgtv.com

To order organic flowers, click on: www.organicbouquet.com.