We are about to start summer, but we cannot do it without first saying goodbye to the floral season as it deserves. So in this publication, we encourage you to go out and get some flowers to prepare the perfect bouquet at home to liven up your corners, tables, or even to fill your home with light and joy.

Since at The Villa Concept we are not experts in floristry and we wanted to tell you how to create the perfect bouquet, this time we are going to tell you some tips from our friends at The Green Collective , who have prepared a very easy and detailed step-by-step for encourage you to do this activity. Let's start!

What will you need?

1. Flowers
2. Vase
3. Scissors
4. Scotch tape
5. Water

Step 1: Choose your foundation

The first step to create your floral arrangement is to choose your base well. The easiest is to use mid-height vases with a smaller opening at the top. Vases with larger openings tend to make the flowers spread out and you end up needing a ton of flowers to make your arrangement look nice and full. For our arrangement, we have chosen a cylindrical ceramic vase about 25cm high.

Step 2: Prepare the perfect base

Before you start arranging the flowers, the base must be well prepared. This will help your flowers stay fresh and stay in place much longer. Fill your vase about 2⁄3 full with water. Then, if you have a sachet of nutrients for flowers, pour it into the water. Then it's time to create a grid with masking tape.

This grid will act as a guide when you place your flowers in the vase, as well as help you keep the flowers in the right place as you create your arrangement. Without the grid, the flowers would fall to the sides and it would be more difficult to shape the arrangement.

Step 3: Start with the green

Floral greens add texture, movement, and most importantly, density to arrangements. When you are creating a flower arrangement, it is essential that you start with the green stems. All of our bouquets already include a large amount of greens such as eucalyptus or ruscus, so they are perfect for making your own arrangements.

The greens should be the first to enter your vase. Take a green stem and hold it next to your vase. This will help you determine the height you need to create your arrangement. Remove the leaves from the part of the stem that will be submerged in the water, and then place the green stems in the outer areas of your grid. It is not necessary to place all the green at the beginning, you can reserve some stems to accommodate them according to the arrangement of the flowers later.

Step 4: Secondary Flowers

Start adding the flowers. Normally in the bouquets different flowers are included, some of which we could call secondary and others, the main ones. You will know which flowers are the main ones because they are usually the largest and most showy. In this step we will focus on the secondary flowers, which in our case will be the purple daisies and the tanacetum.

Once you've separated the different types of flowers, use a pair of scissors to cut the ends of each stem. It is important to cut them at an angle as this way the flower will have more surface area to absorb water and therefore it will last longer. Remove the leaves from the part of the stem that will be under water and then start placing your flowers in the different areas of the grid.

Step 5: Main Flowers

It is time to include the main flowers in your arrangement. Use them to fill in the areas with spaces. In our case, the main flowers will be Carnations and Roses. You may need to shorten the stems a bit with scissors to get the flowers to show exactly where you want them to. Once you have placed all your flowers, move away from your arrangement a bit and look at it as a whole. At this point, you can rearrange and move some flowers as needed until you like the shape of your arrangement.

And that would be all! You already have your floral arrangement ready to decorate any table or corner and make it even more special.

Now the question of the lot, how to make the flowers last much longer?

1. The base you use must be clean, without traces of dust or dirt. This is very

   important when creating any arrangement with natural flowers.

2. The vase should be about 2⁄3 full and it is essential to change the water at least every

   two days. The more times we renew the water, the longer our flowers will last since

   we will prevent bacteria from beginning to be created.

3. Before putting the flowers in your vase make sure that no leaves remain

   submerged in the water.

4. Cut the end of your stems diagonally. In this way your flowers will have a larger surface

   of water absorption.

5. At Green Collective we always include a small sachet of flower nutrients that

   you can dissolve in the water and it will help the flowers look perfect longer.

6. Place your flowers in a bright place, avoiding direct sun.