At the end of spring and the start of summer, what is a good way to improve those happy details of your life? A good answer is with blossom and fragrance——flowers. A bunch of flowers in your room not only makes the air a little fresher but also puts you in a better mood while looking at them. Now in this essay, you will learn about all the ways to choose flowers, make flower arrangements, and take care of them (also some templet about how to do flower arrangement at the end). I wish this will bring you a little more sunshine into your life.
How to pick and buy flowers
We will begin with where you can buy flowers. It’s really easy to find flowers at the supermarket, for example, Wholefoods or QFC are places I’d usually prefer going to buy flowers.
As you choose your flowers, it will always be better to find a flower that’s younger and fresher, it’s easy to tell by their leaves. If it’s yellow or if it’s very crispy then it is likely going to wilt soon. Also, if they are still a flower bud, but, be careful, some of those flower shops want to make their flowers look better, and they pull off some petals to make the flowers look younger on purpose (however, I never see this happening in the two markets I like to go to).
The reason for people to choose flowers that are younger is because they can last longer, and you get the chance to see the whole process of their blossom.
How to take care of flowers
Before learning about how to actually do flower arrangements and make them look good, it’s more important to learn how to take care of them and make them able to live longer.
We can divide this into two parts: the water, and the stem of a flower. Here we need to be very careful, the water can be cold or the best is just room temperature (it will be wonderful if you can leave a bottle of water in your room for two days to make them the same as room temperature), but it can not be warm or hot water, absolutely a no-no! Flowers do not need warm water!
Then for the stems need to cut down about one or two inches of the stem to make sure it absorbs water better. Also when cutting them, cut them at a slanted ninety degrees. And then, cut down leaves that are already dying or are too low that will be put in the water. Remember, cut the leaves but don’t just pull them off, or else it’s very easy to hurt the flower.
When you just got a new bunch of flowers, it will be best to put them in a box about 35cm (or 14 inches) deep, just leave them there for about 4-6 hours, to “wake the flower up”, which means to make them blossom better.
Then when putting them in the vase, you need to do a little consideration about how much water you want. More water (here means 2/3 vase of water) will make the flower blossom faster and will do better with those flowers that are very plump. And less water (which is 1/3 vase of water) will do better with flowers that have thinner petals.
(Comparison picture before and after “wake up” those flowers)
Flower arrangement
Now for the most exciting part: how to make them look beautiful in a vase. It’s actually pretty easy. You can put it whatever way you like, considering one’s own desire.
However, there is something that we need to be aware of when doing this. First, make sure they are not the same height, it will make them too squeezed and “hard to breath”. Second, you will be more likely to set a front side for this vase of flowers, instead of making them look the same in every direction, make sure there’s a front, maybe just by differentiating their heights. After all, just do whatever you like to your project!
How to take care afterward
Impressively, there’s no need to do a lot, but just remember to change the water, that’s very important. Sometimes we can put the little pack of nutrition in the water, which can make them healthier. However, with it or not, remember to change the water every two or three days, since the water might get “dirty” if you don’t clean them, no matter by the excretion product by the flowers, or dust and stuff from outside. If there are leaves or petals that drop into the vase, also remember to change the water and pick them out, or they might decay and go moldy, which certainly will affect the health of other plants. When one of them is dining, just take it out and throw it, to make sure they won’t influence other living flowers.
Now, after all the theoretical parts, here are some examples and easy templates of how I do flower arrangements.
Shop and Price: Whole Foods, around $5.99
How much water and how long it lasts: around 1/3-1/2, lasts for around one and a half weeks.
Advantages and defects: This bunch is pretty cheap, and usually they are already matched in fine ways, you don’t need to consider how to make them look good, just put them in a vase. But since they don’t cost a lot, it is hard to find a really fresh one in this category, they are not that fresh.
Shop and price: QFC around $12.99
How much water and how long it lasts: You can either make them dry flowers, which doesn’t need water, or 1/3 water, which can last for very, very long. Advantages and defects: Gypsophila is very easy to take care of, no matter if they are dry flowers or use water to keep them fresh, well, you can keep them put them in water for two weeks and then make them dry flower. They don’t really have fragrant smells, and those little flowers easily fall all over the table which is annoying.
Shop and Price: Whole Foods, around $15.99
How much water and how long it lasts: 1/2-1/3 water. It is beautiful and healthy for around 5 days, and then the petals become very soft and kind of sick. Advantages and defects: Roses are pretty much the most popular choice for buying flowers, even though the smells are very light, but they do smell great, and also very beautiful. I’m not sure if I picked the sick one or if there’s anything wrong with Whole Foods’ roses, this bunch is very sick. I don’t actually recommend buying roses at Whole Foods, I haven’t seen one that’s very fresh yet.
Shop and Price: Whole Foods, these are two different bunch, and are around $5.99
How much water and how long it lasts: Water isn’t that strict for these “flowers.”They can live for more than two weeks. Advantages and defects: These are actually leaves instead of flowers, and they are so easy to take care of, you just place them in water and don’t really need to take care of them, they can leave for pretty long, they have very light fresh smells. Recommended if you just want some branches in the room for fun, but not for a good flower arrangement or other for decoration.
Shop and Price: Whole Foods, around $12.99
How much water and how long it lasts: 2/3-1/2 water, lasts for about two weeks. Advantages and defects: If you want your room to smell good, lily is the best choice, and since lilies from Whole Foods are still flower buds, they are fresh and can live longer, you get to experience the whole term of them blossoming and then death. However, do not buy them if you are allergic to pollen or any sort of plant stuff! Their pollen is very strong and makes people sneeze. Also, when their dust falls, it makes your table dirty.
Have a nice day!
This article is lovely! I’m glad to know you are still arranging to this day, Yifei!