8 Alternative Flower Arrangement Ideas
Flower arrangement lives and breathes. Discover nimble fingers and explore living art with flower arrangements on the flip side…
Cut flowers make beautiful, meaningful gifts. Their very impermanence gives credence to their beauty (you’ll know, of course, that the Japanese consider the falling of cherry blossom – at the height of its ripeness, at its closest to decay – to be the most exquisite part of its life cycle). Flowers needn’t be merely gifts for special occasions like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Embrace flowers for yourself. Bring them into your home for any occasion, or none at all. Explore alternative flower arrangement ideas and express your creativity. Don’t forget to check our basic flower arranging tips.
1. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Single Stem in Test Tubes
Photo: Home Shopping Spy
Take some delicate cut flowers (freesias work especially well) and place a single stem in each test tube. Test tubes are rather cheap – about £2.99 on Amazon for a pack of 5.
2. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Dyed Flowers
Photo: Harvey Designs Events
Experiment with dyed petals by adding food colouring to water. It doesn’t hurt the flowers and you can get some unexpected effects. Red dye has not only seeped into this sunflower’s petals but given its leaves more than a hint of purple.
3. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Flowers in Bowl
Photo: Blooms for Business
Flowers in fish bowls (or even opaque kitchen bowls) look beautiful as they twine around each other in their natural state, uncontrolled. Tulips work particularly well for this.
4. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Flowers in Teacup
Photo: Brookelynn
There’s something so marvellously Alice in Wonderland about this. Take a cut hyacinth and a small blade of fern and add moss (if you have it) to create a delicate little flower arrangement. Big teacups filled with short-stemmed roses work really well, too. Teacup flower arrangements are tremendously appealing and very easy to do.
5. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Flowers in Wine Bottles
Photo: The One in Pink
Flowers in wine bottles make surprisingly powerful arrangements (we suggest you soak the labels off first). Wine bottles allow for interplay of light, and their narrow necks are ideal for holding an arrangement in place.
6. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Halloween
Photo: Bloom
Come Halloween, don’t forget that a pumpkin or gourd is essentially a waterproof container, likely to last as long as your cut flowers do. Fill it with water and experiment with displays of rose hips, dahlias and chrysanthemums.
7. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Posy
Photo: Annie Floribunda
Victorians were obssessed with posies, and rightly so. Make your friend a wonderful birthday gift. Buy cut flowers (violets are nice), tie the stems tight with ribbon, then artfully adorn your posy with bird feathers, a small brooch or glittery ornament; perhaps a birthday wish rolled into a tiny little scroll. Posies are also a nice idea for alternative weddings.
8. Alternative Flower Arrangments – Flower Girl Bangle
Photo: Flower Magician
Either buy or make an arm bangle out of wire. The next time you buy flowers, pop most of them into a container but keep back a sprig and attach it to your arm bangle for a daywear summer corsage worn on the arm rather than pinned to your decollage.
If you do struggle with your more unique flower arrangement ideas, we recommend floral frogs
