Economic Flower Arranging

I was spoiled in my time living in San Francisco to have access to one of the nation’s best flower markets. In a dilapidated warehouse, mongers would bring some of the most spectacular blossoms, and I would buy them by the armful for pennies. Even without industry access in the early mornings, the “second rate” flowers they offered to the public at 10:00am were still a cut above the rest. When I traveled to Los Angeles or New York, I would always make a habit of visiting their own flower markets.

Washington, D.C., lacks a city-market of that caliber, and I often have to make do. There are the high-end florists (such as Manse and Blooms Collective), which carry wonderful stock, and I will use them for special occasions. But for daily arrangements, I’ve had to develop a more economic approach, with what is at hand, which has led me to rely on Trader Joe’s for the most part.

By luck, I sometimes encounter wonderful blossoms like bluebells or miniature “pumpkins” on a branch during certain seasons, but more often than not, the stock is nothing special. Yet, by following two rules, I can achieve wonderful arrangements:

Volume

When in doubt, and paralyzed by choice, pick one type of flower or greenery, and buy at least three but ideally up to five bunches of it (whatever you think is reasonable is unreasonably minuscule). Single-species arrangements immediately look “high-end” because they appear abundant and abundance signals prosperity and decadence. Flower arrangements often suffer because the flowers look scraggly and empty within a vase, or there is only one or two of a flower type in the bunch. When you fill a vase with the same flower (or even greenery) the power is multiplied.

In this example, humble (and forgettable) baby’s breath takes center stage: the sheer volume of it gives an intentionality and grace within the formal Wedgwood vase.

Color

It is too much work to know what is always in season or available at your grocery store supermarket “florist,” and so an easy way to tie-in an arrangement is to enforce a monochromatic palette: buy only red flowers, or white and cream blossoms, or stick with yellow. Whichever hue you select, stay strictly within in (do not add orange to red, even if they are very close on the spectrum). If necessary, select greenery in the same family, for example, silver-toned eucalyptus to pair with white blossoms.

In the absence of novelty or show, rules like the above allow one to embrace aesthetics and conquer the dearth of prestige blossoms at the grocery store, and do so consistently and confidently.