The anatomy of a flower arrangement

How to plan your cut flower plant palettes each season.

The difference between cutting a few things from the garden and sticking them in a jug compared to an elevated, artistically arranged, bunch of flowers is having a diverse plant palette in your cutting patch to gather from.

Before you grow one of everything, and find yourself short of material, read this to understand the different elements of an arrangement.

For a long time, I just grew what the seed lists called cut flowers. I ended up with a lot, of what I now know as ‘supporting material’. Arrangements were often missing the wow factor, or structure. It was a gathered pretty posy. Not what I was after. I wanted a diverse mix of woody, mature elements, bold flowers with wispy airy bits that danced, like meadow grasses do when growing along the base of hedgerows.

I cringe at the word ‘filler’ or florist slang for gyp or euc. The arrangements I’m aiming mimic combinations of plants how plants might naturally grow together. I don’t want to use a foliage or any plant to pad out.

The fist part of the planning procees is to know why I am growing and what for.

I grow flowers to teach growing flowers. And then at weekends, those flowers are cut and arranged into bridal bouquets and boutonnieres, or cut into carefully curated buckets for others to work them into vessels themselves. I need a good balance of material from late March until the first frosts, what I call the productive growing season.

I need to plan combinations of flowers for every different flowering period. Broadly there are 5 different flowering periods across the whole year. Flowers will bloom in one of those periods, but depending on when you sow it, might be at the begining or end of that. This is where it begins to get a bit complex.

Ideally, each flowering period will have several different plant palettes of material to cut, so I know at any time, I can cut to full fill this aim of recreating natural planting combinations to arrange with.

The next part of the planning process is to list plant combinations for each period. Before I worry about when it needs germinating or planting, I work backwards to ensure I have all the elements which make up combinations.

This is a great example of each of those elements in practice for a vase bouquet arranged in late April.

I said I don’t like breaking things down to technical parts, but there is a formula of sorts, without each element, the arrangement will feel like it is missing something.

But don’t mistake this recipe for painting by numbers and reducing the opportunity for creativity. Instead, but understanding this structure, gives boundaries with which to explore the infinity options for combinations, in any season.

The Formula is made up of four consistent parts, mixed up in dependable proportions which means every arrangement works. Broadly, you’ll want to mimic the proportions on your growing patch to ensure you can cut enough material.

Here I am breaking down the elements of this arrangement into its component parts, sharing what materials can be utilised for each and how to use them.

The Formula

Framework - Malus ‘Rudolph’ (crab apple) blossom)

This is woody foliage material that determines the overall shape and size of an arrangement. It is the first element to be positioned. Branches are best for this, and usually just one tree or shrub is used; hornbeam is a favourite. These add an elegance of maturity to an arrangement, anchoring both in season and longevity.

Think of orchard or fruit trees, hedgerow or woodland plants. They can form shelter belts around plots or grown as agroforestry plants in agroecological farm designs. In gardens they are the structural elements or boundary plants for privacy and seclusion. Even fast growing shrubs and trees take 3-5 years + to develop before cutting so are crucial plants to establish.