Tips for Flower Arranging Beginners

With a little imagination and by following certain principles of design, you can transform the random collection into an elegant and artistic flower arrangement. And this will add beauty and color to your home.

What is meant by design? It is the pattern of the: flower arrangement, and it embraces the basic elements of line, form, color and texture. Slender flowers or branches supply line. The variety of the plant world itself furnishes form and color. Surface quality of the material is called texture. For example, chrysanthemums are coarse, whereas gladioli are smooth. Woody stems and leaves, too, show different textural characteristics.

Your design may be circular or triangular, or it may follow a vertical or a horizontal line or an S-curve. A pyramid, cone, oblong, or ellipse design also may be used. Once the main arrangement outline has been chosen, design calls for a planned relationship among all the components, that is, among the flowers, leaves and any other material, as well as the container or vase.

Interesting effects are achieved if the spaces in the composition vary in size and shape. When some of the plant materials in a grouping extend forward and others backward, the impression is three-dimensional.

Tips for Flower Arranging Beginners

Although far from being strict rules, the following simple tips are useful to the beginner.

(1) Use tall sprays of small flowers and closed buds to furnish long lines. They also serve for filler material.

(2) For weight and stability, place large flowers and dark materials low in the composition.

(3) Do not place one bloom directly above the other. Except in modern symmetrical compositions, avoid geometrical precision.

(4) For harmony, always use colors in masses or clusters, never scattered thoughtlessly.

(5) Always take care to build three sides of your arrangement, since the viewer can see the front and the two sides.

(6) Give the arrangement a three-dimensional effect by turning some flowers and foliage sideways. Large compositions look richer with some clusters of flowers and leaves turned to the side and curved backward from the central section.