Aside from a clean home, nothing makes us happy quite like a bouquet of fresh flowers awaiting us when we come home! Best of all, our favorite flowers can be bought (or foraged) locally! Places like the Farmer’s Market, Commonwealth Urban Farms, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and more stock beautiful, unique flowers and fillers. We hope you'll love our guide to arranging your own bouquet like a pro and how to make them last!

First things first, you’ll want to select the right vase! Especially crucial to beginners in arranging - we recommend finding one with a narrow neck and wider base, like this one. This helps to make something feel unstructured and organic as well as lessen the number of florals you’ll need to cut or purchase. Secondly, choose colors that compliment each other (and your home). It’s okay to throw some bold ones in there, but sticking to foliage, creams, and pastels make for a beautiful arrangement you won’t soon tire of. A good rule of thumb is to purchase one foliage, one filler, and one-two flowers. Next, hold the arrangement in your hands at arm's length to determine what they’ll look like in the vase, pull them and play around with varying heights to add dimension.

Now’s the fun part (okay, it’s all fun)! Start trimming the stems at a diagonal and begin placing them in the vase one at a time. As a general rule, keep your arrangement taller than the vase by several inches and allow for some stems to overflow or hang down on the sides. Begin arranging your stems one by one, overlapping stems at the bottom of the vase to provide extra support and keep their shape. That’s it! Tweak the stems as needed, and place out of direct heat or sunlight to ensure longevity. Take a peek at our DIY flower food recipe below!

DIY Flower Food

Fresh flowers
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp bleach

Fill a vase with 1qt cool water, cut stems at a diagonal and remove all foliage below the water line (with the exception of thorns).

Add the flower food to keep flowers looking bright and happy for days to come! Keep water fresh daily and trim back stems as needed.