How to avoid overcrowding stems in a vase

When arranging fresh flowers yourself, you might find it difficult to make sure that all of your blooms have enough space. A common mistake is to overcrowd a vase and this gives the bouquet a less than appealing look. Fortunately, there are a number of great tricks that you can use to create the most incredible designs.

Chicken wire

This is a cheap option and really easy to use too. You need only place a piece of chicken wire in the vase and use the holes to guide the stems and hold them in place. The one downside of using chicken wire is that you cannot use clear vases because the wire will certainly make the arrangement less appealing.

Floral tape

Unlike chicken wire, floral tape is not used in the vase. Instead, you create a grid-like pattern on top of the vase. You decide how large the squares need to be based on the size of your flowers. You can use a clear vase and you can also rest assured the tape will not damage your vase. This trick works really well for shallow vases.

Floral frogs

Floral frogs are made to hold stems in place and they are really easy to use. All you need to do is place it in the vase and it’s ready to use. The best part about floral frogs is that they give the stems enough space to absorb water while holding them in place. Sometimes floral frogs need to be secured to the vase with glue before you add water and flowers. This is a great investment if you arrange flowers regularly and you want perfect results without spending too much time fussing over the blooms.

Floral foam

This is another great option but you most likely won’t use a vase to hold an arrangement set in floral foam. All you will need is a plastic tray and an attractive basket or other container to hide the foam. The main downside of this foam is that it’s not great for the environment. After the foam decomposes, the dust can be quite harmful so you may only want to use foam when absolutely necessary.

Curly willow

This is great for clear vases because it helps hold the stems in place while adding more style to the display. Slide some curly willow in the vase with water and then add your flowers in between. Remember, bacterial growth will be accelerated due to the presence of extra plant material in the vase water.