Arranging Flowers For Beauty And Ambiance

Humans have been arranging flowers for thousands of years. Nothing adds more charm or beauty to a house than a well done flower arrangement, and if the right blossoms are used they also fill the rooms with the sweetest fragrance.

A floral arrangement can be one single blossom floating in a bowl of water or an explosion of color from blooms, leaves, berries and catkins. The right bowl or vase can only enhance the beauty of a floral arrangement.

The Flowers
If the flower arranger is blessed with a garden, the flowers should be picked early in the day. A bucket of water should be brought to the garden to hold them. Flowers should be picked when they’re almost open; small buds will never open once the flower is cut. If buying from a florist, choose flowers that are the best, and avoid those with drooping heads or blackened stems. It’s best to bring them home with their heads down to keep the heads from breaking. If buying flowers is part of a day full of errands it should be the last thing the buyer does before going home.

Preparation
Once home, the flowers should be trimmed of bruised leaves or petals. The lower leaves should be stripped off, or they’ll rot and contaminate the water. The flowers should be placed in a bucket of deep water in a cool, dark place for a few hours. Flowers bought at florist’s shops or supermarkets should stand in the water overnight. They should never be put in a draft or direct sunlight.

Arranging
Arranging the flowers is a true art form, and each flower, leaf and other element should be treated like a dab of paint on a canvas. The secret is balance, whether the flowers are roses arranged in a crescent shape, chrysanthemums or peonies in a sphere, daylilies in a pyramid, or gladioli in a torch shape. Whatever the arrangement, flowers will add joy and beauty to the house for many days.