How to Arrange Flowers – Floral Design Classes (2024)

Why Create Flower Arrangements?

loral arrangements are aesthetically pleasing and a way of expressing emotions and creativity. A simple flower arrangement is a way to add your personal creative touch to your home. Giving someone a bouquet of flowers is a unique way to show gratitude, appreciation, love, friendship or sympathy. Creating flower arrangements is a great way to exercise your artistic side. Additionally, when done with others, floral design can be a great bonding experience.

Flower Arranging Basics: The Design Process

It is essential to know the elements and principles of design when creating floral arrangements, and these will be covered in this article. However, to get started, there are four things to consider when beginning the design process.

● Conceptualize the design

Envision the final floral design that you want to create and decide the overall style and components of the arrangement. Are you going for grandiose or straightforward? Will it be a bouquet or display or another arrangement? For what occasion will you be creating the floral arrangement?

● Choose your materials

When you have your vision for the final arrangement, you can choose what materials you will need to create it. Flowers and greenery are the most common ingredients for flower arrangements. Some arrangements may use all of the components or any combination of them. These are:

• Focal flowers- these are your larger blooms, like roses or peonies, and are the anchor flowers of the arrangement.
• Line flowers- these are taller flowers such as snapdragons. Along with greenery, these flowers create the dimensions and overall shape of the arrangement.
• Filler flowers- these are your smaller flowers like carnations or spray roses. These support the focal flowers and add color, depth and texture to the floral arrangement.
• Detail flowers-these are more delicate blooms like sweet peas that add texture to the arrangement.
• Greenery- this helps act as a base for the arrangement and gives it an overall shape. There are many textures and shades of foliage to choose from. This is why conceptualizing the design is so important- you will need to determine what greenery (and blooms) you will be using before you start creating.

● Determine your color scheme

Create your color palette and choose what colors balance and work well together. Different color schemes include:

• Monochromatic Colors- A monochromatic color scheme uses different flowers with the same shades and tones to create a visually striking display.
• Analogous colors- These are colors that are beside each other on the color wheel. Analogous color schemes create harmony and are satisfying to the eye.
• Complementary/near-complementary colors- These shades are opposite or almost opposite each other on the color wheel. When used together, complementary, and near-complementary shades bring contrast to an arrangement while at the same time creating balance.
• Color saturation- Color saturation combines different colors with the same intensity, such as light pastels or bold jewel tones, and balances the arrangement.

● Place greenery and florals

This is where you bring the whole arrangement together. Start with the greenery you will be using to create your dimensions and build your overall shape. Then arrange the flowers from bigger blooms to smaller blooms. Add filler flowers for depth and detail flowers for texture. Fill any gaps with extra greenery or filler flowers.

● The Elements and Principles of Design

The elements of design are the visual characteristics of the components of design. The principles of design are the tools or guidelines that are used to compose a design. Basic flower arrangements can be beautiful on their own, but following the design principles can turn a simple floral arrangement into a work of art. The elements of design are as follows:

• Line- the path that the eye follows in the arrangement.
• Lines may be curved, straight, zigzag, diagonal, vertical or horizontal. Lines add energy and movement to floral arrangements.Form- the shape of the components of an arrangement.
• A floral arrangement is composed of individual flowers, but together they give the arrangement shape or form.Space- the open areas around the components of the arrangement
• In floral design, space includes the general area that the display occupies. Therefore, floral design space is divided into positive and negative spaces. Positive space is the space occupied by materials and negative space is not occupied or open space.Texture and Pattern
• The texture is how a material feels to the touch. The textures of floral arrangement components should either blend or contrast so that the elements complement each other. The pattern of a floral arrangement is any repeated combination of line, form, color, texture, size or space. Color- how the eyes respond visually to the pigments of an arrangement. Color adds personality to flower arrangements.
• Size- the measure of the space that the components of a floral arrangement occupy.
• Fragrance- the aroma of the arrangement. This is more a component of the atmosphere of the arrangement rather than the design and is a personal perception that creates long-term memories.
• The principles of design are divided into primary and secondary principles. Primary principles of design include: Balance- the symmetry of the arrangement, with all parts appearing equal.
• Contrast- the emphasis on components of the arrangement that are different from each other
• Dominance- how a floral arrangement is visually put together or organized
• Proportion- the relationship between the components of a floral arrangement
• Rhythm- the motion of the floral arrangement
• Unity- this is when all the elements and principles of floral design have been used correctly.
• The secondary principles of design are: Accent or Focal point- the dominant area of the floral arrangement
• Depth- how materials are placed in varying levels in and around an arrangement
• Opposition- the contrast of elements in an arrangement
• Repetition- the repeated use of any aspect of design to achieve unity in the flower arrangement
• Scale- the size relationship between the floral arrangement and its setting
• Transition- the change from one part or component in an arrangement to the next
• Variation- an interruption in the similarity of a floral arrangement

Now that the essential elements and principles have been covered, the next step is to make different floral arrangements. Here are some simple arrangement techniques that are sure to produce beautiful results.