Get more from the flowers at the grocery store!
Come with me! I’m about to make a grocery store run and I’m planning to peruse the flower department. I thought it might be nice to take you along, and lead you through my thought process to choose blooms to make stunning arrangements at home.
Selecting the blooms
First, survey the inventory. What do we have to work with?
Start with something you know you love right away. For example, we picked some lively tulips. Carry that bunch with you to compare side by side with your other options. We found a great peach alstroemeria (Commonly known as Peruvian lilies. You know the ones. When you picture grocery store flowers, they probably come to mind. You just may not have known their name until now.) The yellow in their center ties in with our tulips, and we’re off to a great start, recruiting blooms for a bold, cheerful arrangement.
On color, there aren’t concrete rules, per se. We like to tell a color story, a relationship between our blooms. That means picking some flowers that contrast and complement each other, as well as some others that are closely related, in varying shades, to provide some transitional tones.
Next, we always like to incorporate some neutrals in our color palettes. So we searched for a white. We don’t typically gravitate toward PURE white, at least not in our statement blooms. We find you get more richness out of a subtler tone, so we went with a perky bunch of creamier-colored pom pom chrysanthemums. And it’s great that they bring in a variety of size and texture. That’s important to consider when shopping to arrange at home.
Getting the deals
Of course, you can get great deals, especially if you consider flowers on clearance. Sometimes you’ll find them in this section because they’re on their way out. So, you’ll want to stick with hardier options. You can pretty well guess that something is going to last a bit longer, if the stems are nice and strong.
Flimsier stems and hollow stems, while beautiful, may only look their best for a couple of days. But you can’t go wrong grabbing a strong bunch of greens, like we did, from the markdown area. At $1, you just can’t beat the bargain!
Things are really shaping up. We could probably use one more standout bloom. Eureka! a bunch of peachy roses will look great with what we’ve already set aside.
Before you check out, it never hurts to toss in a $1.99 variety bunch that you can use for accent flowers.
Making the arrangement
Alright, so you’re back from the grocery store with all your beautiful flowers. First, open ‘em up, give ‘em a fresh trim, remove unnecessary foliage from the stem. Then, arrange them in some various vases that you have around the house. Could be mason jars, whatever you come across. Get them hydrating in some water. Now, you can kind of take in everything that you’ve purchased, to try to determine what your arrangement will look like.
Tape off your vase! It’s one terrific way to make magic. We have an LRDIY tutorial that breaks down the technique: Simple flower arranging tips - Vase Tape
Once you’ve taped off your grid, put water in your vase and you’re ready to get started arranging.
Begin with greenery and some of your filler flowers, to create a foundation. We always love some asymmetry, with a bit of reach. We used less than 10 stems of greenery and a smattering of filler flowers. We also used an outlier carnation to fill in the low space toward the center of our vase.
From here, start to use your bigger blooms, such as roses, tulips, lilies, or daisies. We suggest keeping these more forward facing, and really give them breath. They are the statement blooms, and you don’t wanna overcrowd them.
As we say, give the bloom some elbow room!
Now, a note about flowers opening up. Our roses, for example, were from the clearance section. So, they were perhaps not as brilliantly fresh as some of the other selections. But with a fresh stem trim, and removing some slightly wilted petals, you can get a few extra days out of them. Our tulips were super bright, ready to go. Over the next couple days, they will start to relax and fall. So your arrangement will take on a different shape. Feel free to play around with that, remove any dead petals and stems as you go.
Which tools to use to create a bouquet
A quick chat about tools to use to cut your flowers. Obviously, if you have gardening shears, those will do the trick. If you don’t, no worries. Just use a pair of hardy scissors.
When to change the bouquet water
Lastly, a comment on water. Obviously, you want to make sure each of your stems is in water that’s as fresh as possible. So, if you can, tilt your arrangement and dump it out when the water starts to get mucky. Staying on top of this will help you keep your gorgeous arrangement for a week or more!
Happy Arranging! We at LRD hope you and your loved ones are happy and healthy. Stay safe, and be sure to let your grocers know you appreciate the hard work they’re doing in this crazy time! We’ll surely get through this. And with beautiful flowers to brighten up our homes, we’ll get through it in good spirits!
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