Arranging Flowers from the Garden [includes Some Quick Easy Ideas]

Garden Flowers in an Arrangement

Have some guests over for a meal and then realise you didn’t get any flowers for the house? Why not have a look around your garden and pick some flowers from the garden for an arrangement or two?

Arranging flowers from the garden can be a lovely option to decorate your space when you have guests over and have forgotten to get some flowers  from the shops. Or stuck at home due to COVID-19 restrictions. 
 
Roses and hydrangeas are often popular go-to choices but there are also other flowers you could consider such as camellias, gardenias and strelitzia.

Have a look around your garden. You might be surprised at what you can use. For a little inspiration, read on.

CAMELLIA ARRANGEMENT

Using flowers from the garden
Using Camellias from the Garden

For this arrangement, my neighbour kindly gave me some of her pretty and sweet-scented camellia. 

Applying colour theory, I intentionally selected a green vase as I knew the green would complement the pink colour of the camellias well. 

To better showcase the flowers, I did a couple of things. Firstly I placed a couple of camellia stems apart when placing into the vase. Secondly I removed some of the leaves from the stems. As a result, the arrangement looked more expansive even with minimal floral materials.

After that, I placed a couple of fully opened blooms and a few short stems with flower buds near the mouth of the vase. This helped to create a focal point for the arrangement.

Flowers submerged in water

Another super easy way to decorate your dining table with flowers is to have the flowers in clear drink glasses filled with water. Like the pic below. (By the way these glasses were from IKEA!)

In addition you can make multiple groups of these arrangements and then style them with tealight candles or floating candles in glasses along the centre of the dining table. This will create a lovely ambiance for conversations around the table.

Flowers submerged in water
Flowers submerged in water

Tall arrangements

Alternatively, if you have a tall vase like this one from IKEA, you can use long branches. For example, strelitzia have rather long stems and will be suitable for a tall vase.
 
Do remember whenever you are placing a heavy branch in a tall vase that the vase is weighted enough so it won’t topple. 

green arrangement

On the other hand, if you don’t have flowers you can also make use of any greenery you have.

Having foliage of different textures can make an interesting arrangement. Or even or a couple stems of the monstera leaf in a glass vase can look great!

The resulting look of arrangements using only greenery is often great for a more modern or contemporary look.

Using Flowers From the Garden
Using Foliage from the Garden

Here’s another “green” arrangement with bromeliad and philodendron leaves. After your function, you can re-plant the bromeliad in your garden.

Using foliage in an arrangement
Using bromeliad with philodendron leaves in an arrangement

CHOICE OF CONTAINERS

To make things a little more fun, you may like to use something a little different as your choice of container. For example instead of using a regular vase, empty jars, tin cans, pretty glasses, cups or even teapots, can add a nice touch.

Remember to cut the flower stems shorter if you have a smaller or shorter container. As a guide, the proportion of florals to container is usually 2:1 (if you prefer a taller arrangement) or 1:2 (for a wider arrangement).

So, if you need to quickly brighten up your place, don’t forget you can use and arrange flowers from the garden. Not only will you have something fresh, your guests might be impressed with how resourceful you are. 
 

You might also be interested in:

Creative Agapanthus Arrangement

What’s Special About Sunflowers – Meaning, Arrangement Ideas and Care Tips

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