VIEW OUR UPCOMING FLOWER ARRANGING BASICS CLASSES HERE
All great floral arrangements start with gorgeous flowers, and it’s best to source directly from local farmers when possible both to ensure the quality of your blooms and to support your neighboring flower economy.
That’s why She Loves Me works directly with local growers so we’re always working with the freshest florals!
But sometimes you’re in a rush, or don’t have easy access to locally-grown flowers. That doesn’t mean you can’t make a beautiful bouquet with what’s easily available.
What’s the biggest trick to making your flowers look expensive? Grocery store flowers tend to have tight, closed buds, so what you want to do is get them to open up! Large, frilly petals fill up your bouquets and make them look more elegant.
Here are some florist tips and secrets to getting your flowers to open up and look professionally arranged:
Blow on Them
This may sound silly, but the first and easiest step to opening your blooms is to blow on them. This helps loosen the petals and gets them to separate from each other, and works mainly on Roses.
Spinning
This trick works particularly well with roses that are a few days older, where the petals are a bit softer than a fresh rose. Turn the flower upside down and hold the stem in between your palms. Press your palms back and forth to make the flower spin, which loosens up the petals to open them up more. This helps give the illusion that your grocery store rose is a Garden Rose, which are highly prized for their lush, ruffled petals.
Reflexing
A great trick to try with roses after you’ve spun them is called reflexing. Starting from the outside layer of petals, put your thumb against each individual petal and use your pointer finger to gently coax the petal to turn outwards. Rotate the flower and work towards the center, trying to reflex as many petals as you can carefully and slowly, so you don’t tear the petals. A successfully reflexed rose can look like an expensive Peony, which is a great trick if these pricey stems aren’t in your budget!
This also works with a flower you may not have considered purchasing: Carnations, which we love for their versatility and low price point. Just look at these stunners we used to create an elegant flower crown:
To open carnations: go around the base of the bloom and delicately peel back every other green “V” (called the sepal) just slightly. Then use your fingers to press the petals out, feathering them to make the flower look much larger and more beautiful. This is a great trick to keep in mind if you purchase a bunch of carnations that haven’t fully opened yet!
Once you’ve mastered this trick, try it on other flowers as well -- We love how doing this with Tulips can transform them to look like stunning tropicals.
Other Tricks to Keep in Mind
The best way to make a bouquet look expensive is to mix different kinds of flowers together. Try arranging it so you have a consistent mix of smaller buds, larger focal blooms, and plenty of greenery to frame them.
These are just a few of the tricks you’ll learn in our Flower Arranging Basics workshop, which you can take from the comfort of your home! Or if you’re looking for something fun to do with your friends this winter, why not schedule a virtual Live Compote Arranging class, so you’ll be ready to make all your own centerpieces for the holidays?
