How To Create a Floral Arrangement on the Cheap

I love arranging flowers.  They are never perfect, but the process -- perfect relaxation on my day off.  In need of an arrangement I could use through Thanksgiving, I went about the yard looking for some greenery (free!) to mix with $7 worth of flowers I picked up at the market.  I thought you might like to learn how to make a Fall arrangement on a tight budget.

First, the materials.  I cut some evergreen branches off my weeping shrub (don't know the name), some king's gold cypress (mine's more green-gold since it gets no sun), azalea branches, pachysandra, and a bit of catmint.

You can see here I have my mums, some cinnamon scented pine cones (clearance at Michael's right now for $.99), some long cinnamon stick (another clearance for $1.99), and my $20 tin that was reduced to $3.99.  Woo-hoo!!

Step one is always soaking your floral foam in water (at least 10 minutes) to keep everybody in the group drinking.  If I'd remembered to buy it, I would have used florist's tape to keep the foam in place.  Oh, and make sure to line the container so it doesn't leak.  I used foil as I didn't have a plastic liner.

Make sure to put the foam in snug.

An arrangement should have a high, middle and low rhythm, which florists sometimes call the sun, moon, and earth.   To build support for these three elements, you need to start with the greenery.  (I have a floral designer friend, Charlene, who recently told me to work from the greens up -- I had always started with my sun, moon, and earth and filled in around them.  Who knew?  Thanks, Charlene!)

Here, I want a longer, oval arrangement, and I've decided I want it a bit asymmetrical so that it doesn't look too contrived.  I start with my weeping evergreen...

I put the branches in almost horizontal to the container to keep them low and droopy.  I'm also showing you how I propped my container up to make it easier to work with.  Next, I add in the king's gold and the azalea to start to beef things up.

Here's a look from the top-down to give you a sense of what your framework should start to look like...

Adding in some pachysandra and some catmint...

Catmint is very soft and wimpy.  To get a bunch to go into the foam together, I wrap them with some floral tape that is made for this purpose...

 

Make sure as you assemble your arrangement that it looks good from all sides, especially if it's going in the center of your table.  Next, I'm adding my sun, or the height...

As with decorating, remember to use odd numbered elements when you can.  Now, I'll fill in with smaller mums (again, like decorating, vary your scale).  It's important to carry a bit of the color over to the other side, which I did with the red mums.  It provides balance.

For my moon, or mid-height, I'm adding some fresh fruit.  Here, I'm taking a floral stake and putting it in a pear. (I like the freshness and autumn color it provides).

Now for some apples...

The asymmetry continues with cinnamon sticks added on the right...

To add pine cones, I tie them to a stake with floral wire, first wrapping the wire around the stake, then the pine cone to the stake.  Make sure to hide the wire by pulling it in to the center of the pine cone as you wrap around.

The pinecones are added, and wha-la!  The arrangement is done.  Oh, I did add one sprig of orange "lanterns" from Michaels ($1.99) for a little extra height.

So, not all that hard, right?  You can use anything you have in your yard, and hopefully, if you follow this simple construction, you'll have something fresh and great smelling to add to your home, like I did, here...

In my "buffet-scape" I added a background picture of my husband's quaint hometown, as my guests will be from the same area.  Just a little personal touch when Thanksgiving comes...

I hope this inspires you!  If you make your own, please send me a picture and perhaps I'll do a follow-up post!  Email me at SofasandSage@gmail.com

Talk to you soon,

Carol