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Unleash your inner floral diva!  But you don’t have to spend a lot to make every room in your house a little more festive. In fact, you can make multiple flower arrangements from just one Whole Foods Market® holiday bouquet.  

Here’s how to get started:

• Choose two or three of your favorite vases and vessels in different sizes
• Separate all the elements and group like flowers together:  all the pompons in one pile, all the alstroemeria in another pile, all the gerberas in another, all the greens, etc.
• Remove longer  lateral branches from spray flowers, leaving a cluster at the top
• Start with your tallest vase and arrange your tallest flowers
• Use your medium container for intermediate length flowers
• Create a small arrangement from your trimmed lateral branches for a bedside table, breakfast tray or, my favorite spot, the windowsill over my kitchen sink

Our floral colleague, Sarah von Pollaro of Flower Empowered walks you through how to get more from your mixed bouquet in this video.

I love making arrangements of just one type of flower from a mixed bouquet, but arranding by color can also be dramatic.  Of course, you can also just make lots of smaller sunny mixed bouquets.

To make your arrangements last longer follow these tips:

• Always give your flowers a fresh cut with a sharp tool to avoid crushing the stem.
• Use floral preservative to give the flowers food, discourage bacteria and lower the pH of the water. 
• Put roses immediately into water after giving them a fresh cut.  That way water is entering the vascular system right away.  This prevents them from getting top heavy and flopping over.
• Change the water frequently to keep it fresh and free of stem-clogging bacteria.  Another fresh cut to the stems will help extend the life, too.
• Keep your arrangements away from direct sunlight, drafts and heat sources.
• Move your flowers in the coolest room of the house at night while you sleep.

Many of our holiday bouquets are extra lovely because they meet the Whole Trade Guarantee. That means they’re grown with environmentally sound growing practices and ensure more money for growers. Want to choose Whole Trade flowers? Just look for the logo.

Are you a fan of flower centerpieces or do you prefer the classic tall vase?  Personally, I love to look down into an arrangement from above, peering into the flowers’ little faces.  So I’m a centerpiece gal.  How about you?