Summer Fresh Floral Arrangement

When I think of summer florals, I think of blue hydrangeas. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, and I love every variety. My family has several bushes at their homes, so I’m always able to get clippings while they’re blooming. In this post, I’ll share with you how I made this gorgeous hydrangea floral arrangement for summer.

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I love having fresh flowers in my home, and I almost always have a vase of fresh flowers in my kitchen. Whether they’re from the grocery store or cut fresh from a garden, you can create a beautiful floral arrangement with these simple steps. 

Supplies:

• fresh flowers
• plastic dish/centerpiece container
• floral foam
• flower clippers
• lantern (Ikea)
• battery operated candle (Dollar Tree)
• American flags (Hobby Lobby)

This floral arrangement was my first time using wet floral foam. I’m not sure why I hesitated to try using the wet foam, but I love using it now. After creating this arrangement, I designed the flowers for a whole wedding last summer. Fresh florals are gorgeous on their own, and with a little help, you can really make them shine.

For this lantern arrangement, I cut these blue hydrangeas from my mom’s house. She has several gorgeous bushes, and I love getting flowers when I visit. I am working on growing some at my own home (fingers crossed). I cut the ends at an angle and kept them in water until I was ready to make the arrangement.

Step 1:

First, prepare your flowers. As I mentioned above, I left mine in a vase of water until I was ready to use them. If you buy them at the grocery store or order them in bulk, there are a few things you should do to get the most life out of your blooms.

Most grocery stores include floral food packets, or you can order the powder online. When you get your flowers in the mail or bring them home from the store, trim the ends at an angle at least one inch from the bottom of the stem. Use sharp and clean scissors or snips.

Remove all leaves to have clean stems for the water. You can keep leaves towards the top of the flowers, but you don’t want leaves in the water because of deterioration. The leaves start breaking down in the water and make it slimy and gross.

After you trim your flowers and put them in water, keep them in a cool dark place until you are ready to arrange them.

Step 2:

When you are ready to create your arrangement, soak your floral foam brick. Pick a container big enough for your brick to sink into, then place it on top of the water. Allow the foam to soak up the water on its own. Do not force it below the surface.

Once the foam is soaked, you can cut it up and piece it together in your container. You can use clear floral tape to secure your foam to the tray or container.

Step 3:

Now it’s time to arrange those gorgeous blooms. For the lantern arrangement, I put the lantern on top of the foam in the center of the circle. I added the candle as well. Then, I cut off each stem at an angle and stuck the blooms into the foam around the lantern.

When you are sticking flowers in the foam, make sure the end of the stem stays in the foam. If the end pokes out and is exposed, the flower will wilt because it’s not getting water. If you notice one or two flowers wilting or droopy the next day, this is probably why. Remove those flowers, recut the ends and let them soak up some water in a vase until they return to life or replace them.

I used extra leaves from the flowers to fill in spaces around the arrangement to hide the plastic container. If I were purchasing flowers for this design, I would get some greenery fillers to help fill in spaces between the flowers. My favorite greenery for arrangments is eucalyptus.

Step 4:

Finally, add your American flags, and the arrangement is complete. I love the blue hydrangeas with the red, white, and blue in the flags. This design screams summer and Fourth of July to me. I think it would be the perfect centerpiece for your summer parties.

I kept mine on my buffet in my entryway for a while. Fresh flowers make me smile, especially nostalgic ones like blue hydrangeas. Maybe you have a flower that makes you smile as well. Keep them around. Buy them often. Flowers are an easy way to lift the mood in your home. I purchase the $5 packs of flowers all the time on grocery runs.

Below is a video tutorial for creating this arrangement. I also have a tutorial available for the lantern wedding centerpieces I created.

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