How to Add Greenery to a Tropical Flower Arrangement

The first step when assembling your tropical arrangement is to remember that greenery adds interest and depth. Tropical arrangements have many choices when it comes to greenery. Often, native tropical leaves are as beautiful as the flowers themselves. Just be sure to vary color and height for a natural looking flower arrangement.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Choose tropical greenery. Tea leaves, banana leaves and palm leaves are all great choices. You're going for different textures, colors of green and angles to add interest to your arrangement.
2. Trim your leaves without cutting the spine of the leaf. This is so you have a pointy end to stick in your foam. You can just clip the leaf about three or four inches up and rip off the spine. You'll want to keep the leaves on the longer side for more variation and a tropical feel.
3. Insert your leaves in the foam of your arrangement at different angles. This is to ensure each leaf isn't standing up completely straight, leading to an arrangement without variation.
4. Balance your height and shades of green. Pair low with high, dark and light for visual interest. If you would like to make a long leaf shorter, such as a tea leaf, you can roll it up and staple it closed to make it different and more visually appealing. Make sure you hide the staples toward the back of the arrangement.
5. Repeat inserting the greenery until your desired amount of foliage is achieved. Remember, this is the longest, most repetitive step because you're essentially filling your tropical oasis.