disclosure: This post is sponsored by Endless Summer® Hydrangeas
It took me forever to figure flower arrangements out.
I’d look at them on other blogs or Pinterest or on the pages of a glossy magazine.
But when I tried to flower-arrange it at my house it never worked.
The flowers would fall over and the petals would droop and an occasional bloom would look at me with judgey eyes.
Until.
Until I discovered the perfect flower arrangement….
….was just four simple rules away.
Rule number 1: tape is your friend
You know when you take a picture of a group and you tell everyone to scoot together.
That’s what tape does for flowers in your arrangement.
It helps them all to become better acquainted.
You want to put your tape over the top of the vase like this.
I usually use four pieces and stretch them from one side to the other.
This breaks up the lid of the vase and gives you places to put all those flowers in a much more organized fashion.
Rule number 2: Start with your tallest flower first
Your tallest flower determines the height of your arrangement.
Place your first stem in the center of your taped off vase and cut the stem where you want the highest point on your arrangement to be.
Next, cut two stems for either side of the arrangement that determine how wide you want your arrangement to be.
Fill in the rest of the flowers with those parameters.
(total aside: see how easy that makes everything once you know where your flower arrangement is going)
Rule number 3: Vary the sizes and textures of your flowers
When choosing flowers for your arrangement, look for three different sizes of flowers.
I cut beautiful blue blooms from my Endless Summer BloomStruck® Hydrangeas in my yard.
Then I mixed in tiny roses and larger peonies.
You can change it up for each different season. For example, it’s fall right now, so mums would work perfectly in an arrangement like this. In the winter, I like to mix in evergreens with holly and poinsettias.
Each flower brings a different texture to the arrangement and makes it feel like a flower party waiting to happen.
Rule number 4: Supplement with greenery from your yard
This is my favorite rule of all.
This is the one that takes it all flower arranging to the next level.
Add drama, movement and personality to your arrangement with sprigs of greenery from your yard.
Here, I’ve added the greenery to the arrangement on the side.
See how just a few vines make the flowers pop even more.
And one more thing.
There’s nothing like a hydrangea to make a flower arrangement even better.
Nothing.
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love my Endless Summer Hydrangeas. They bloom forever and the blue is brilliant and the flowers stay beautiful for weeks after they are cut. I seriously cannot get enough of them. I’ve decorated the house with them all summer.
You can see them in my laundry room here.
You can see them keeping my barn door company here.
You can see them on my back porch here.
And to pin for next year you can see my post about how to plant hydrangea here.
Hydrangeapolooza.
It’s so 2017. 🙂
disclosure: This post was sponsored by Endless Summer Hydrangea.
All opinions are my own.
Read more on my advertise/disclosure page here.
I can't believe how beautiful your flowers From your yard are! At first, I thought you bought them from a store!
Give me all the hydrangeas!!!!!! I am trying this tape trick out tomorrow! Happy day friend. 💜💜💜
I agree with you--tape can be your best friend when arranging flowers. I love the colors of the flowers that you put together in this arrangement. They are gorgeous! I have made it part of my weekly routine to cut flowers and greenery from my yard to put in flower arrangements. I find herbs like sage, rosemary, and basil add great texture to an arrangement. My sage has that silver/white green cast to it. It really is lovely with some bright colored zinnias. Thanks for sharing!
I have an Endless Summer Hydrangea and I love it. Depending how I fertilize it I can get blue blooms or pink blooms. This year though, the frost really hit hard and I only had one huge bloom to begin with. Now I'm getting lots of blooms but they're smaller. Your formula for flower arranging is like a recipe I can follow. Perhaps you're going to have to write your decorating and paint color selections in recipe format so I can follow it. Your flowers are gorgeous!! Have a wonderful day!! 🤗
Of course! Tape! You are brilliant! (And thanks for sharing it) 😊 Cecilia
Yep, you're right. There's NO FLOWER BETTER THAN A HYDRANGEA for creating your own arrangements. I think that's deserving of all caps! Love your tape trick. Here's another, similar tip for hydrangeas. If the head of a flower begins to droop into its different sections, use a twist tie to gather them all back up into the hydrangea's signature mop head. (I don't mean to spam you, but you can see this demonstrated in this post: https://www.impartinggrace.com/2012/05/tip-for-using-hydrangeas.html Your arrangement is just beautiful, KariAnne--just like you!
so so beautiful .... nothing like fresh flowers to make our rooms look pretty and us, happy. Somewhere in the first couple of weeks of Sept, our painter has promised us he will be here with paint brush in hand...I am knee-deep in A ROYAL MESS, trying to get things ready for him and his crew. He promised all I have to do is put everything in the middle of ea room and he would cover with a painters cloth...but, every piece of white ironstone I own has to be in a large container so I CAN scoot them to the middle...*heavy sigh....well, I need help on choosing one of a KILLZILLION shades of white. I think I read somewhere that you have most of your house in Alabaster from SW...??? I got a POSTAGE SIZED paint chip and it looks pretty creamy and not a stark white...are you still loving it or has a new shade of white moved into first place with you? I will appreciate any suggestion regarding paint color (white) you might give me..... Many thanks...bj
I'm salivating for those simply GORGEOUS peonies! BEAUTIFUL!
The tape trick! Of course! I forgot that one! Your bouquets are always spectacular! How come you're having fall and I'm not? I live in Wisconsin and we're still getting rain and humid weather! I love fall time but I'm not ready for it yet! And too soon beyond fall "Winter is coming"!!!!!!!! Have a great rest of your day, Karianne!
I love this on flower arrangements, but the tray under the flowers really caught my eye. I just found a great Christmas present for my parents. I think my Mom would just love it and my Dad could use it all the time. My Daddy is 88 and my Mom is a full time caregiver for him. She could use the tray to carry almost anything she needed to. And the best part--I can make it myself. I can't wait. You are always so inspiring KariAnne and I am so thankful.
I agree on all points!! But my fav is greenery from your yard! I started doing this a few years ago and it has made all the difference in my arrangements. I have a large sage plant that has been my go to fill in all summer.
My hydrangea bloomed this year for the first time in THREE years! I actually did a little dance on the top of the hill where they are planted. We covered them for the winter last year and I definitely will do it again this year. They came back the most beautiful blue!
Simply stunning! Love, love! 💕
I'm missing your blog in my email every day. I didn't consciously delete it and I know I signed up for it again vey recently. I've been on your list for years. I miss it
Fantastic tips! Thanks so much,i really needed these.I will definitely be using this method from now on.I've always loved Hydrangeas too:)
Beautiful styling, and wonderful tips! Thanks for sharing this with us on The Creative Circle Link Party!
This is so beautiful!I have learnt a few things,thank you.
VERY helpful post, KariAnne! Now I'm off to arrange my door decor for the fall, which involves 3 vertical wee pots . :-)