Flower Power: How to Create a Freeform Floral Centerpiece Without a Flower Frog

At this point, browsing beautiful flower arrangements on Pinterest has turned into a sad little hobby of mine. Sad only because I don’t think I can count Pinterest as a hobby. Can I? 

But after all of that browsing, I’ve realized that there aren’t many tutorials to show how to make the type of arrangement that I am particularly partial to. The kind of arrangement that feels a little more wild, organic, and freeform. Not rigid. Or ball-shaped. You know the type, right?

Sooo…I thought I’d create a tutorial today on how to make those free spirited, imperfect arrangements that I’m so fond of. Without a flower frog. That way, you can use a transparent vase or vessel. And bonus – you don’t need any extra gadgets.

This small arrangement is perfect for an impromptu dinner party, or resting on a side table in your living room. Want to make your own?

Here’s how…

Flowers + Greenery Needed: white/green ranunculus, delphinium, thistle, stock, ivory hypericum berry, queen anne’s lace, freesia, pittosporum

Additional Supplies: short open mouth vase (I used a $2 wine glass from West Elm), scissors or floral shears

How To:

This how-to is probably a little easier to describe via photos, as opposed to words, but just in case, I have both.

1. First, add at least one inch of water to a short, wide vase (in this case a wine glass). Set aside.

2. Next, you’ll want to prepare the flowers and greenery, by removing the bottom layers of leaves and blooms. You don’t want any leaves or flowers touching the water line, so keep that in mind.

3. You’ll also want to cut the stems down to relatively the same length (its important for some stems to be longer than others, but you’ll want the stem lengths to all be within 2 inches of each other – give or take). I’d recommend cutting a stem down for the greenery, testing it out to make sure it’s a good length, and then going from there. Instead of cutting all the stems down at once, without testing.

4. Now, it’s time to start putting the centerpiece together. Start with the pittosporum. I added 3-5 small stems total to give the arrangement a good, hearty base. By intersecting the stems (meaning that stems are different angles), it creates a loose grid of sorts to support the flowers that are added next.

5. Then, just let some of the flowers do the talking for you. Not in a hippie kind of way (though that may work too). If you see that a stem naturally leans to the right, for example, arrange that stem on the right-hand side to let the arrangement naturally veer out to the right. And then find a stem that leans left to balance things out on the opposite side. Fill in holes with smaller blooms and, if possible, vary the sizes and colors throughout, for a more organic look.

Note: Generally, I like to start with adding the largest, statement flowers first and then work my way down to the smaller sizes to fill in holes, etc. But there’s no exact science here. It’s flower arranging! It’s supposed to be fun. So feel free to carve your own path.

All in all, the flowers in this arrangement cost me less than $20 in flowers to make (and those are flower shop stem prices, not wholesale), and took about 10 minutes to make.

Not too difficult, right? And you don’t need anything special to recreate this look, either. Which is what I like about it.

Think you’ll give this DIY arrangement a try for your next dinner party?

Photography Sarah Eddy // Concept and styling Brittni Mehlhoff

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Looking for more DIY flower projects to try? Check out the flowers tag for more project ideas.