It’s that time of year folks, when bad flowers get purchased for SOOOOO much money and given to unsuspecting loved ones. To say that I’m a flower snob is a bit misleading; it’s not that I want only $10 a stem peonies all the time, it’s that I don’t like mass-produced generic, fragrant-less red roses that are closed so tight you could barely stick a pencil in them. (Not sure why you’d want to do that, but it’s 3 am and I’m out of clever metaphors. Deal.)
Here are three different inexpensive and easy flower arrangements for all of your year round styling needs. (And thank you Tessa for the pretty photos and gif’s.)
1. Weeds are your budget’s best friend.
They get a bad rap, but weeds are really just wildflowers, and yes, because of their ubiquity they are cheap … like $4 a bunch cheap at the flower market. So I used these three:
I love wax flowers. They’re hearty, last long, and are just miniature flowers. A vessel filled with just these are great in itself, but I like to combine them with other wildflowers to create a more, well, wild arrangement.
I add in some Genestra. And yes, I try to stay in a kinda specific color palette. But don’t get all Pantone chip about it, just mix pretty tones together.
I vary the size of the wildflowers slightly so they all don’t look too similar. But really just pick a color palette and go for it. Look how easy it is:
So easy and so cheap. Like $7 for all. That vase is from West Elm, last year and I love it.
2. Try one color, three different flowers. Here are the rules:
Don’t get exactly the same color or it will look fake.
Vary the size of the flowers.
Stick to three or four types of flowers. You don’t need to mix 15 different varieties of flowers.
For this next arrangement, I started with a large scale purple kale.
This huge flower kinda grounds the arrangement. The rest is basically just to break up how solid it is, add some airiness, and make it look more organic.
These berry flowers are a stark contrast to the big kale, but still in the same color family so they mix in really easily.
Then I found this flower that had various sizes of buds, some open and some closed to add to the organic look.
Organic yet intentional; exactly what look you should be going for.
3. One flower mixed with lemon leaves. It’s not that roses are bad, it’s just that they often need a bit of help. Obviously if you can get garden roses or a variety that isn’t so generic, that is always a plus. But your florist almost always has lemon leaves that they will give to you (some charge) to mix in with your flowers. Take them, they are great. One flower mixed with lemon leaves is super simple and really dresses up the flower.
So I chose this candy striped rose, because I’m edgy like that.
And mixed with these lemon leaves:
They are very easy to style and so organic.
Place them randomly so it doesn’t look fake, but keep them balanced.
There you have it folks — three different very cheap, easy, and beautiful arrangements.
A quick poll: What is your favorite flower to receive? As much as I love peonies, there are times when they are almost too pretty for me (or maybe I just use them too much). What are your favorites?