Join Our Summer Flower School

Jul 6 2008 Vivienne Lee And Nick Priestly

Our Top Tips For Stunning Floral Arrangements Flowers

Schools may be out but there's no time like summer to learn the lessons of flower arranging.

Over the next four weeks we invite you to join our floral summer school. This week we cover the basic tools you need as well as showing you how to create a hand-tied bouquet.

Over the next few weeks we shall look at the other fundamentals of flower arranging - colour, seasonality and style. The basic tools you need are: secateurs, scissors, rose thorn strippers, floral knife, string, pot tape, gutter tape and wires. You should also have a selection of vases of different sizes.

Mastering the hand-tied bouquet is the key to creating floral displays as it forms the basis of many floral arrangements.

Though the basic technique will remain the same, the look and style can be dramatically altered by the use of foliage, the arrangement and spacing of the flowers, and the colours and shape.

Top tips for hand-tied bouquets

Foliage is helpful for keeping each flower in place and protecting stems. For a more contemporary look, use it as a collar around the bouquet.

Choose flowers with a mixture of different shapes to create interest, though keep it to no more than three or four varieties.

Using fewer flower varieties or even just one type doesn't mean a boring arrangement. Remember, less can be more and a mass of one flower type will look incredibly chic and elegant.

Next week: Colour and its impact on flower arrangements.