A Guide to Autumn Flower Arranging
Now the pumpkins have had their time to shine you might be left wondering how to style your home for Autumn. Flowers are beautiful all through the seasons but during the Autumn, the burnt oranges and rich crimsons instantly make you feel ready to embrace the colder weather. And what better way to enjoy it than from the comfort and warmth of your own home?
Whether you’re styling a tablescape for an Autumn feast or simply wanting to get back to nature, something as simple as arranging flowers is a great way to unwind and get creative.
As we move into Winter, festive foliage is just as impactful – bringing a touch of living nature into our homes as the leaves and the greenery succumb to the cold snap outside.
From fresh and earthy eucalyptus to seasonal berries and oak leaves, Autumn flower arranging is the perfect rainy Sunday activity to enjoy around your kitchen table (Christmas songs not obligatory but we highly recommend).
Mix and match fresh flowers and foliage with dried flowers for a rustic and undone arrangement perfect for a table centrepiece. You don’t have to fill a vase to make a statement, sometimes less is more when it comes to flower arranging.
Bountiful blooms get all the credit in Spring and Summer
A handful of apricot-coloured roses balanced with a few fresh branches of eucalyptus provides a beautiful understated bouquet, whilst wild flowers clustered in a rustic vase look perfectly undone on a kitchen counter.
Bountiful blooms get all the credit in Spring and Summer but if you want to add stark beauty and a sense of wilderness to your fall bouquet moody filler flowers such as thistle really come into their own at this time of year.
If you just so happen to have any pumpkins still floating around – if they haven’t been blitzed into a soup already – then why not fashion them into a vase? Simply scoop out the middle, pop a little water-filled vase inside and voilà!
A bunch of supermarket flowers can easily be elevated by adding visual interest and texture from your own garden or local park. As long as you’re not uprooting any flowers or upsetting wild life, fallen leaves, twigs, feathers and berries can work wonders for filling out a bunch of shop-bought flowers and provide that unique and personal detail.
Create a dramatic arrangement by pairing simple eucalyptus with bright colours
Create a dramatic arrangement by pairing simple eucalyptus with bright colours and cascading amaranthus or everyone’s favourite pom pom flower: hydrangeas. They look even more beautiful in Autumn as they dry out.
Smoke bush is another particularly beautiful shrub during Autumn – its fluffy plumes turn a beautiful scarlet hue in Autumn so if you should be so lucky to have some in your garden it would the perfect for adding some texture and volume into your bouquet. If not, it wouldn’t be totally unreasonable to befriend someone who does own a smoke bush. We won’t judge.
You will need:
Sharp scissors or floristry shears
Clean vase filled with fresh room temperature water
Flower food
Flowers and foliage of your choice
- First prepare your flowers by stripping any leaves that fall below the waterline. This helps prevent bacteria from gathering in your vase.
- A vase that’s wider at the base and narrower at the neck to support the bouquet is the best shape to go for.
- Where possible, use floral shears instead of scissors as some scissors can crush and damage the stems.
- Cut your stems according to the height of your vase to create a balanced arrangement. As a general rule, your arrangement should extend the total height of the vase by 1/3.
- For longer-lasting blooms, cut your stems diagonally at an angle to help your flowers drink up more water.
- When arranging your flowers, first create a base by adding your greenery first, that way you can gradually build up colour and texture with your focal flowers. Your most impressive flowers go in last as these will be the focus of your arrangement.
- If you have any smaller flower heads or fluffy filler flowers, add these in after your green foliage to create shape and balance.
- If you’re using fresh flowers or foliage in your bouquets, remember to change the water every two days to keep your blooms looking their best.
