Tips on Making Flower Arrangements in Tall Vases

Proportions

• The relationship of the floral arrangement's size to the vase can make the difference between a visually pleasing display and one that looks awkward. The general rule is to use a 2.5 to 1 ratio. This means, in most cases, your flower arrangement will be 2 to 2.5 times taller than the height of your tall vase. The reverse proportion can also be used, particularly for shorter, wider flower arrangements in a tall vase, where the arrangement is half as tall as the vase, but twice as wide. Using these general proportions, your finished arrangement will look balanced and complete.

Flowers

• Almost any flower, except for single-stem, small, delicate blooms, can be utilized for an arrangement in a tall vase. Long-stemmed flowers are commonly considered for tall vases, but not all long-stemmed flowers are well suited. Lilies, roses and flowers that have blooms at the top of the stem are better than long stems that bloom up the stem, like delphiniums, gladiolus and penstemon, that you must trim off and waste many of the flowers. Shorter-stemmed flowers can also be used for your arrangement by adding sand, marbles, seashells or pebbles to raise the bottom of the vase and support the stems or floral frog. The addition of sand, pebbles or marbles will weigh down the vase, avoiding potential toppling.

The Vase

• There are many different styles of tall vases, from broad, wide-mouth models to slender, bud-vase types. The flower, stem size and overall design need to match the vase. A mass of tightly fitted, thick-stemmed flowers, like iris or gladiolus, will look unnatural in a smaller-mouthed tall vase rather than arranged loosely in a wide-mouth vase. Slender tall vases need thin-stemmed flowers for a natural appearance.

Arrangements

• When starting your arrangement in a tall vase, begin by placing the filler greenery and flowers in the vase with the stems crisscrossing. This will help support the main flower stems in the arrangement. Work from the outside rim inward when inserting flower stems, finishing with the tallest flower last. Use flowers in various stages of opening and place blooms so they face in different directions. This creates a more visually interesting and natural arrangement. Check the color balance so that one area of the arrangement doesn't have more of one color than the rest of the arrangement.