How to Arrange Flowers in a Vase

Have you ever wondered how florists get flowers to stay in place in a vase arrangement? The secret is "greens lacing" and this article shows you how to do it. Now you, too, can have a perfect vase arrangement!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Flowers
• Greens
• Sharp utility scissors
• Vase
• Water
• Floral preservative

1. 
   Begin lacing

   Take a single green in your left hand (assuming you're right handed). Take a second green and "thread" it above a branch in the first green and down so that you're holding both stems in your left hand.

2. 
   Continue lacing

   Continue to add more greens in this manner until you have a bunch of greens - 7-10 stems work pretty well for an average vase. You'll find that these greens are holding together pretty well at this point.

3. 
   Cut stems

   Cut the stems of the greens bunch so that the greens will sit at the top of the vase, without the stems touching the bottom of the vase.

4. 

   Place the greens in the vase.

5. 
   Insert flowers

   Begin adding flowers, one stem at a time, right into the greens. You'll find the greens "net" will hold the flower in place. Keep adding flowers until you have the design you want.

Tips & Warnings

• Use greens that have branching - leather leaf fern is a great choice as it's easy to work with and any florist will have plenty on hand. Sometimes you have to ask for this, as they may not have it displayed for individual sale. You can also use greens you cut from your yard.
• Make sure you give each flower a fresh cut before you insert it to maximize its life in the vase.