Create a Spring Flower Arrangement

Flowers add elegance to any room. In just a few minutes, you can make a beautiful arrangement that will last for days.

Photo: Charles Walton IV

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Don’t keep the South’s showstopping season outside―enjoy flowers inside. Floral designer Gaye Drummond of Savannah shows us how to create an easy, elegant tabletop arrangement of roses, peonies, hyacinths, phlox, and common snowball viburnums. You can adapt this look using flowers from your own yard or the grocery store.

Materials for Floral Arranging

• Small, green plastic container
• Double-sided florist tape
• Magnolia leaves
• Florist shears
• Ribbon or raffia
• Water-retaining florist foam
• An assortment of fresh flowers (We used roses, still-green common snowball viburnums, peonies, phlox, and hyacinths.)

Step 1: Wrap the circumference of a small, green plastic container with double-sided florist tape. Press a magnolia leaf, with the stem pointing downward, onto the container. Continue with the remaining magnolia leaves, allowing them to overlap slightly until the container is covered.

Step 2: Using florist shears or sharp scissors, trim the bottom half of the leaves so that each end is flush with the container’s base. Then wrap with ribbon or raffia.

Step 3: Saturate a block of water-retaining florist foam, and place it in the container. With the florist shears, shorten the stems of the flowers at an angle. Keep in water until ready to assemble.

Step 4: Working from the outside in, insert stems of flowers into the foam, alternating among the viburnums, roses, hyacinths, phlox, and peonies. Fill in spaces where necessary to achieve a slightly rounded look.