11 Simple Tips for Beautiful DIY Flower Arrangements

These tips for How to Arrange Flowers will make the most of your backyard blooms. Learn how to make a flower arrangement with flowers and foliage from your own yard, so you can enjoy beautiful arrangements all through your house!

The end of summer means fresh flowers are plenty for the picking! Whether you’ve got gardens full of them, or you pick them up from the farmer’s market, fresh flowers can be enjoyable arrangements in your home. If you’ve wondered “What is the easiest way to arrange flowers?”, today’s tips will give you confidence to create your own. Here are 11 Simple Tips for Beautiful DIY Flower Arrangements. to guide you!

11 Simple Tips for Beautiful DIY Flower Arrangements

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When to Pick Your Backyard Blooms

Morning is the best time to pick your backyard flowers and foliage. They will be the most full of moisture and will look their best. If you can’t get to them in the morning, later evening is second best. Definitely don’t pick flowers in the heat of the day; it will stress them and they are likely to wilt quickly.

How to Pick Your Garden Flowers

Cutting flowers, such as everyone’s favorite zinnias, are best cut above a branching spot. When you cut the flower stem, energy will then pour into the branching buds and make the plant grow thicker. Cut stems that feel firm and full of moisture, not ones that feel floppy. You can wiggle them back and forth to test.

Place Cut Flowers in Water

For best flower stamina, carry a bucket of water around as you are picking your flowers. Being placed immediately into water will ensure their best show. You can also give them a fresh cut before placing them in their arrangement.

What to Put In the Water with Flowers

The easiest fresh cut floral preservative to have on hand is a pump style formula like THIS. You simply put a couple squirts into the water to keep flowers looking their best for longer. As a DIY option, add a little hydrogen peroxide and table sugar to the water to keep bacteria at bay and give the flowers some food.

Remove Foliage

Before arranging, remove any foliage that will be below the water line. Greenery in the water promotes bacteria to grow. Simply pull off any leaves or foliage by holding the stem with one hand and pulling away from the flower head with the other.

Gather a Wide Variety of Vessels for Flower Arrangements

You can arrange flowers in anything that will hold water; get creative! Gather vessels with small and wide mouths to vary your arrangements and give you more options for floral design.

I chose all milkglass vessels to contrast with the bright colors of the zinnias.

Use Floral Frogs or Tape for Support

Larger mouth vessels can be tricky to arrange. To help you achieve the look you want and support the flower stems, use flower frogs in the bottom of the water. Vintage versions are so good looking, you can make them a feature of the arrangement. Vintage flower frogs are a fun collection to find; they can be enjoyed for flowers, or repurposed in other ways.

Shop vintage flower frogs HERE.

If you don’t have a flower frog handy, clear tape can be adhered to the top of your vessel in a crosshatch pattern. Leave spaces for the flower stems to be placed in between. It’s a great way to get flowers to “stand” in any vessel.

Pick a Variety of Foliage to Add to Arrangements

You can definitely design a flower arrangement with only flower blooms, but adding other foliage and textures will fill out the look nicely. When you’re wandering your yard, pick a variety of greens, including evergreens and herbs. Grasses and even weeds can look great in late summer arrangements. We have about 800 hosta plants, so hosta leaves are often added to my arrangements.

See how much better this arrangement looks with the addition of green foliage around the neck and taller grasses and greenery at the top?

Don’t Overlook Less Than Perfect Flowers

If you have flowers that are past their prime or look less than perfect, you can sometimes enjoy part of them. Coneflowers and Rudbeckia have a wonderful middle that looks great when you remove the flower petals. Zinnias also look great showing off their centers. Simply pull off those petals and you’ll get a whole new look for your arrangements! (See how cool they look in the arrangement above)

Vary the Stem Length

To get a different look, cut your flowers at different lengths. Multi-branching varieties can look interesting in an arrangement if you keep the multi-stem look. They can provide a tall element in the design that gives it a wow factor. Sticks can also have the same effect, elevating the arrangement and making it look bigger.

Create a Grouping of Mini Flower Arrangements

If you are wishing you would have planted more cut flowers (you can never have enough zinnias), create a grouping with mini vessels. Vintage salt and pepper shakers can be grouped together on a windowsill with just a few small flowers to create a happy, summer display!

For more creative backyard flower design and gardening ideas:

“10 Easy Ways to Decorate with Vintage Garden Tools”

“How to Plant Succulents in an Old Birdbath”

“Float Your Flowers”

“Color Block Your Garden Bouquets”

Did you get some new flower arranging ideas? I hope you’ll be more confident to create your own flower arrangements for yourself to enjoy all the wonderful late summer backyard blooms!

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