Step 1: Invest in florals of the season.
Whether you’re building a fresh or faux floral arrangement, the best way to make sure you’re making it feel as autumnal as possible is to choose flowers that naturally occur around this time. Sure, that sounds counterintuitive, since most plants tend to kick the bucket once the weather turns, but hear me out! Florals like chrysanthemums, African daisies, petunias and sunflowers flourish in the fall and will provide a rich, warm color palette for your autumn arrangement.
Step 2: Be picky about your vessel.
A bouquet’s only as good as the vase it’s displayed in. Maybe you’re feeling a little DIY and want to try the baking soda paint trick — if you’re unfamiliar, if you mix your standard acrylic paint with baking soda and use it on a glass vase, voila! You actually have a ceramic vase. Ceramics automatically add a certain flavor to your creation. Or, go thrifting for a vintage vase in fall colors — browns, rusty reds, deep oranges, you get it. You could even display them from a cleaned-out pumpkin!
Step 3: Choose your accessory pieces.
And I’m not talking about those adorable new Ugg boots you just splurged on. Floral accessories could be things like eucalyptus, pepperberry, preserved maple leaves, small branches — fall-esque filler pieces for your bouquet that make it feel like you just made the arrangement by picking up wildflowers and debris from the forest like the cottagecore girlie you are.
Step 4: Prep your stems.
Before you begin an arrangement, make sure your flowers are groomed to be as long-lasting as possible. You’ll want to take off any extra greens (leaves, etc.) that may get submerged in the water in the vase, trim the base of the stems (at an angle, for maximum water retention) and add some flower food (sugar and apple cider vinegar work if you’re in a pinch) to the water.
Step 5: Start arranging.
This is the fun part! A good rule of thumb is to start with filler, then add large blooms and finish off with smaller flowers, alternating the direction your bulbs are facing as you add them to the vase. Then, once you have a shape you like, you can go back in with extra filler to cover up any empty spots. For a more uniform arrangement, try this:
- Place a focal flower, aka your biggest bloom, in the center of the arrangement and give it some height.
- Arrange four stems of the same flower around that.
- Add 6 to 8 flowers — still the same variety! — around the base of the vase.
- Now, switch to a secondary flower and fill in spaces between the first variety.
- Fill in with greens and/or fall fillers and add to the base.
- Display with pride!