How to Add Roses to a Tropical Arrangement

Creating tropical floral arrangements allows for a lot of creativity because of the abundance of tropical flowers and greenery to choose from. Try variations by adding other flowers such as roses.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Create your tropical arrangement using tropical plants and flowers such as gingers, halaconias, orchids, anthuriums or lilies. Darker colors give a masculine look and lighter, brighter colors give more of a feminine feel.

2. Choose roses for your arrangement. Choose pink or purple for a feminine look and darker red or yellow for a more masculine look. Make sure that whatever roses you choose, that they are a good contrast to the tropical flowers in your arrangement.

3. Remove the outer petals from the rose to make the rose look new and fresh. The outer petals are called "guard petals" that protect the rose in transport and until they are ready to use in your flower arrangements.

4. Strip all the leaves and thorns from the roses with a rose thorn stripper. These rose strippers make it easy to remove leaves and thorns and can be purchased online or at many craft stores.

5. Trim the stems to fit so that they are the height you want them to be in your tropical arrangement.

6. Place the roses under your tropical flowers so that they are visible, but not the main focus.

7. Use as many roses as you would like in your tropical arrangement.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your flowers are well hydrated before beginning your project. Soak the stems overnight or for a few hours in a floral preservative or in your own mixture of 1 gallon water, 1 tbsp. sugar and a small dash of laundry bleach.