Floral rules are ephemeral, but here are some basic guidelines
Consider these tips and opinions when you buy or make floral centerpieces.
Drawback: Grocery store flowers might not be fresh, especially if they are not refrigerated.
Elizabeth Britt recommends holding the bouquet upside down and shaking it. If petals drop off, choose something else.
To check a rose, pinch where the petals converge. If it feels tight, the bloom should be fine; if "squishy," the flower is old.
But sometimes more mature flowers provide the look you want, said Britt. For example, she showed several alstreomeria blooms pulled together for a full, frothy look. At the other end of the spectrum, buds like lilies can be gently pried open.
Battle of the greens: Harriet Tedrahn thinks greens are important and help to show off the flowers. In many cases, she says, a variety should be selected for the beginning of your arrangement.
Britt said that when you're purchasing at grocery stores, you don't get enough greens to work with anyway, so throw away the measly sprigs that are included. And be sure to remove from flower stems any leaves that will sit below the water line because they will decompose quickly.
Making cute: If you use duct tape to plug the holes in little plastic seedling pots, even these mundane things can become attractive individual vases for each guest.
Take six carnations, hold them in your hand, compare with the little container to see where to cut, and it's ready. Britt had to cut daisy mums individually.
Cut a square out of the middle of a folded piece of tissue paper, put the flower stems through that into the vase and tuck in the tissue for another little blast of color. This is another way to keep the bouquet from getting wobbly, too.
Favorite vases: The easiest vase to use is the hourglass shape with the big reservoir of water and the tighter neck. If you don't like the look of the stems use an opaque vase, give the stems a hard twist for a more organized appearance or add stones or marbles.
Glass cube-shaped vases are popular. Britt shows how you put a stem in a corner, lay the flower across the vase and start building an arrangement.
"Everything is supporting each other and you don't have the flop factor,"she said.
Another idea: Start with a few little bouquets - one pink, the next white, with votives in between and maybe a mirror underneath. And perhaps even cut off some flower heads and scatter them along the table.
Texture: Everyone agrees texture is important. "You don't want all the flowers to be the same type or same size," said Britt. "Even if all the flowers are the same variety, some are tiny and some larger. The important thing is not one of this flower and one of that. Repetition is good."
- Deborah Donovan