You don't have to be a horticultural professional to try your hand at interesting and elegant flower arranging. Whether you are doing a living arrangement or cut blooms, use whimsical containers and your own decorating touches to make the design unique and fun.
Even just placing different sized bottles (with their labels soaked off) on the picnic table with a single brightly colored Gerbera in each will liven up the outdoor eating space.
Think outside the box
The key to spectacular outdoor flower arrangements is thinking outside the box. I have seen planters made out of bird cages, tires, pallets, colanders, teapots, boots and many odder objects. The appeal is in the oddity.
Paint, glue, rocks, and any other items can be used to decorate these days to day objects. Vertical gardens are all the rage, so a simple way to build a vertical planting wall is with chicken wire and garden fabric. Make little pockets to staple to the chicken wire, fill with soil and, voila, a vertical flower arrangement for the outdoors is born.
How to create your floral arrangement
Use flowers and greenery that will be long lasting for cut or planted displays. Cut flowers might be lilies, yarrow, Celosia, and any other cut blooms you have in the garden that will keep going even after they are harvested. Include greenery from around the landscape, including Salal, ferns, ivy, and even slender tree branches.
Container arrangements can, of course, be floral but try a succulent display for variety or even a floral arrangement that includes sweet little succulents at the edges.
Size is of the essence
When you are putting your arrangement together, consider the size of each plant as you combine them. Cut flowers can be trimmed to match or enhance the other flowers, which makes it easier. Place smaller flowers around the edges or trailing blooms. Add airy flowers and greenery to the interior of the arrangement to set off larger blooms. Try a floating floral arrangement of large flowers – such as peonies.
When planting a flower arrangement for the patio or any other area, size is of essence. Don't block smaller plants with bigger ones. The whole thing should have a waterfall effect with larger, taller specimens at the center and low growing or trailing plants at the edges.
Creativity is the word when making floral arrangements. Even an old crate takes on old-fashioned elegance when filled with lilacs, hydrangea, snapdragons and roses. The art is in relaxing and letting your sense of style and fun take over as you arrange your floral trophies.
