Tulip Time! - Arranging These Beauties

Tulips are a beautiful flower. Full of joy and sunshine and blooming just when we need them, Spring! They come in so many colors and varieties, most of which make you question, is this even a tulip? All this positivity and something I hear often is "but how do I arrange them?" 

Look I get it. They can be a little wonky. They continue to grow in the vase. They are hard to manage. Which is why I am here with some tulip arranging tips. This is in no way a comprehensive floral design course, but rather something to get you comfortable to at least try.

For starters, we all need to understand that a droopy tulip is not a bad thing.  Most people see a droopy flower and remove it from an arrangement, but tulips are the prettiest little droopy flower and it doesn't mean wilted!  If just reading this is stressing you out, I want you to at least promise you'll keep reading before complete refusal!

The vase you use will help guide the style you can arrange them in. Bud vases, wide mouth, trumpets, pitchers, pedestal, mason jars, the list goes on. I suggest pciking one that brings you joy and going from there. Especially if this arrangement is in your own home, the person that should love it the most is you!

Then pick the style you would like to try. Compact and uniform, assymmetrical, wild and whimsical, or a combination! If you always like your flowers to look a certain way, but are curious about stretching your comfort zone? Maybe pick something that scares you! They're flowers, they are meant to be enjoyed and to help us stay in the moment. All of the arrangements in this post can be made with just water, vases, and tulips. Oh and a pair of snips or scissors!

Bouquet to Centerpiece - this one is scary, but fun. Maybe try it to start and if you aren't in love, shift to one of the others. Simply unpackage your bouquet, put water in your vase, and drop the flowers in, letting them stay where they land. It's fun, low pressure, and full of whimsy!

Wild and Whimsical - if just dropping them in the vase scares you, this might help bridge the gap. Allow the stems to stay long, drooping over the edges, sort of dancing. Arrange them around the vase to spread the beauty around.

Compact - typically everyone's go to, use any shape vase and arrange the tulips in a tight dome on the top, use some of the leaves to mix it up a bit.

Asymmetrical - keep some long, some short, works on fun lines, and a chance to use that vase you never grab!

Bud Vases - perfect for stems you cut too short while trialing a new style, spread them around the house for little bursts of joy that surprise you in every room! Plus you finally get to use all of those jars you keep shoving under your sink!

Now that you spent all of this time arranging, here are some tips to make them last:

• Change your water every other day, if you wouldn't drink the water, your flowers don't want it either!
• You may have to trim the stems. Tulips are unique in that they continue to grow even after initially harvested. So don't panic when you come downstairs tomorrow morning and things look off, you haven't shrunk, they grew!
• Also, don't keep your flowers close to fruit. This goes for all flowers. The gases released from the ripening fruit will also cause your blooms to age faster.

If you use any of these tips, please email a picture to mollie@toadhillblooms.com, I love seeing our flowers after they leave the farm!

Spreading joy through local flowers,

mollie