Tip
Don't be afraid to get creative with your arrangement. Mix delphinium with roses and daisies. Add pussy willows or peacock feathers to the flowers, or tie raffia around the neck of the vase. Sometimes, it's easier to group flowers into a bouquet in your hands first, then test whether the batch of stems will fit into the opening easily and without force. If not, remove a couple, and retry.
Arranging flowers can be an art form that brings beauty into your home environment. Fresh flowers are commonly used in floral design, but they don't last very long. Using artificial flowers such as ones made from silk ensures that your arrangement will last a long time and only require periodic dusting. Creating an arrangement is quite simple, especially if you trust your instincts for your own concept of beauty and what appeals to you. Vases with narrow openings don't have to limit you in design options.
Pick tall silk flowers for tall vases. You can also use ones that droop, hang or drape, such as wisteria, orchid, jasmine and possibly a silk vine like ivy.
Place the vase in front of you on a table. Separate your flowers by color, height and type. Note the diameter of the stems, and group the narrow ones together, then do the same with the larger ones.
Place three of the tallest flowers into the vase opening. Tuck in three somewhat shorter flowers around and between the tall ones. Add one or two of the draping flowers, placing the stems inside the vase with the flowers mostly hanging outside it, draping downward. For example, place three very tall white silk lilies or roses in the center with three camellias slightly beneath them and a white multiblossom orchid draped down the side.
Add more flowers if the opening allows. Stick to one color, such as all white, or add touches or pink, red and purple between the white flowers. Don't overcrowd them. Pull the fuller group up slightly, and separate the flowers outward in all directions. Turn the vase to check that the flowers are balanced with even color or type distribution.
Add two or three thin strands of artificial bear grass or eucalyptus to contrast very soft flowers or to add height and fill. Alternatively, drape a strand of silk ivy so only a few inches tuck inside the opening and the remainder of the vine wraps partway down and around the vase.
Writer Bio
Debra J. Rigas, a professional writing coach, has been a writer and editor since 1975. She is the author of the nonfiction book "Everyone's A Guru" and has edited novels ("The Woman Pope") and worked in arts and sciences as a filmmaker, boat captain, landscaper, counselor, theater administrator and licensed midwife.
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