From left: Jax Vase, Bird Vases, Cube Tube Vases
Creating your own floral arrangements can be quite overwhelming at first. So why not start small? Bud vases let you bring nature into your home in little, easy-to-manage pieces. They fit smaller spaces that a larger vase would overwhelm, or can be used in a grouping to create a centerpiece.
Look to local farmer’s markets for fresh, cut flowers to create your own budding arrangements throughout your home. Gardeners, of course, have access to their own plants for flower arrangements. Restrain yourself from wanting to overfill bud vases with too many flower stems. In our opinion, a single bold flower, like a Gerbera daisy, makes more of a statement than a stuffy vase full of red roses.
How to Select a Fresh Cut Flower
Trust your senses when it comes to selecting flowers at the market. If the buds or blooms are browning, and the leaves are turning yellow, then keep looking. You’ll want to avoid flowers sold in stinky water, chance are they are old.
Buy flowers when they are closed or just partially open. Many flower varieties, such as lilies, have multiple blooms on one stem. Try to select a single stem with one bloom open and the others closed. That way, you will be able to watch the additional blossoms open and enjoy the flower longer.
Keep Cut Flowers Alive Longer:
- Fill the container with water containing floral food.
- Cut the flower stem to about twice the height of the vase. Strip the flower’s stem so that none of the leaves will be covered by water. Place the flower in the bud vase.
- To give added support and beauty, add stems of linear bear grass or other linear foliage. Cut the foliage so that they are just slightly taller than the flower.
- To give the bud vase an elegant, balanced look, insert greenery at the rim of the bud vase.
While large single-vase arrangements are the usual way to go at the dining table, Don Vanderbrook, a floral designer in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, likes to do a grouping of bud vases. “It’s an airier arrangement, and easier for guests to see and talk over,” he said.
Single Stems that Stand Out:
- Gerbera daisies
- Calla lilies
- Gladioluses
- Sweet peas
- Daffodils
- Tulips
- Irises
- Chrysanthemum
- Roses
- Spring blooming branches like forsythia
Keep Scale in Mind
Make sure the stem of the flower is at least as tall as the vase. Vanderbrook said the rule of thumb is that the flower should be 1½ times the height of the vase. So if the vase is 6 inches tall, the flower should be 9 inches high. Don’t go much taller than that scale, Vanderbrook said, because bud vases tip over more easily than conventional vases.
Also consider the scale of the space. A single bud vase won’t work on a 60-inch dining room table, Vanderbrook said. A grouping would work, though (see photo above).
Sources: www.nj.com & www.flowerpossibilities.com
