How to Arrange a Tall Trumpet Vase Centerpiece

Tuck plumosa into the vase, using a dowel rod to push it to the very bottom, providing a cushion on which the shorter flowers stand, creating the height necessary for a tall arrangement. Continue to add enough to fill the vase, allowing it to spill out over the edges to your satisfaction. Let the fern drape all the way to the table for a dramatic statement. Another option is to cut the greenery just below the outer rim. Fill the vase three-quarters of the way full with water after the plumosa is in place.

Place eight stems of leather leaf in the vase. Add one piece at a time, forming a circle with the overlapped stems. Tuck a mix of tall and short stems of salal in between the leather leaf, providing a sturdy cushion to support your flowers.

Leave as much height on your bells of Ireland, delphinium and liatris as possible, cutting only one inch from the stems. Place one bells of Ireland on the left and another on the right, sliding them into the vase at an angle close to the rim, so they lean over the edges. Position a single liatris at the back of the vase and another in front, also at an angle. Slide the delphinium in between each of the bells and liatris flowers.

Create your lead flower, the tallest flower from which your others will spiral downward, by adding a single bells of Ireland in the center of your arrangement.

Insert floral wire through the receptacle of the sunflowers until equal amounts of wire stick out from each side. Wind the wire down and around the stem, creating a criss-cross pattern; this will prevent the heavy sunflower heads from drooping.

Cut a sunflower the same size as your center bells of Ireland and insert it next to it in the trumpet vase. Stagger four more sunflowers at different heights in between the other flowers.

Add fullness to the arrangement with white or orange alstroemeria flowers. Place a single stem of alstroemeria just under the petals of your center sunflower. Distribute four more stems among the other flowers, cutting one so that it hovers just above the rim of the vase.

Complete your trumpet vase centerpiece with complementary flowers containing small heads. Disperse green button mums throughout the arrangement at varying heights. Include several miniature carnations and spray roses around the rim of the vase.

Rotate the vase on the table, slowly. Search for any gaps. Fill the gaps with any leftover flowers to complete your centerpiece.