HAPPY AT HOME: FLOWER ARRANGING WITH BESS
A series about creating, learning, and thriving today

Fresh flowers are a beautiful way to bring nature into your home. Here Bess, from our Home team, shares her favorite tips as a previously trained flower arranger for collecting and making bouquets from the blooms found in your yard and garden.

BEAUTY IN EVERY SPACE

Bouquets aren’t just for your kitchen table. Try placing them in unexpected spots, such as on a stool or a dresser. It brightens up your morning routine, and creates beauty in the spaces you may take for granted.

Decorating your home with flowers

BEDSIDE BLOOMS

There’s nothing like the smell of fresh flowers at your bedside to help you sleep at night, nothing better to awake to in the morning. Place a bouquet by your pillow to enjoy the fragrant scent, and take a minute to enjoy the beauty of nature at the bookends of your day. 

UPCYCLE OLD BOUQUETS

Instead of throwing away your old bouquet, pluck off the dried or wilted flower petals and add them to your bath for a relaxing, spa like experience. 

TIPS FOR PICKING FLOWERS & ARRANGING BOUQUETS

Wild plants and brush in the yard can make the best bouquet filler. Don’t be afraid to responsibly harvest tall grasses, tree branches with colorful leaves, and common weeds to make artful arrangements. Mixed together with beautiful flowers, it’s the magic touch to transform your bouquet. 

• Always cut flowers from the garden in the early morning or late at night to make them last in a vase, and never in the rain! Make the cut at an angle with a clean, sharp knife or shears.
• Don’t forget to change your bouquet’s water daily. No need to remove the bouquet, just place the vase under the water faucet and let the water overflow and replace itself. You can also snip the bottoms of the flowers every few days to extend the life by enhancing hydration. 
• For the most dramatic bouquets, build a bouquet about one and a half times taller than the vase. Proportionally, this draws the eye to the blooms and creates a bolder statement in the room.  
• Cut the flower stems to different lengths. Varying heights let the flowers “dance” throughout the vase. 
• If you have pets or small children at home, confirm with an online search that the flowers you choose are non-toxic.

Inspired floral arrangements, a bold work of art, a favorite dress, a quiet spa moment in the bath, soft linen sheets, a cozy quilt… Surround yourself with the things that you love, things that bring you comfort and make you smile. Celebrate each and every moment to find the beauty and happiness of being at home.