7 Pretty Flower Arrangement Ideas That Show Off Your Spring Blooms

Kevin Sharkey shares his favorite ways to arrange spring flowers, including tulips, peonies, hydrangeas, and more.

Bringing in fresh flowers is one of the easiest ways to make any space more beautiful. Flowers add living color, texture, and fragrance to your décor—and are especially welcome in spring after a long winter.

Whether you have your own cutting garden or buy flowers at the grocery store, it all comes down to how you display them. I have some tried-and-true ways that I like to arrange different types of flowers. For some varieties, that means letting them go a little wild; for others, it’s all about isolating individual blooms. The main thing is to pay attention to the flower’s shape, color, and natural tendencies—and work from there to create an arrangement that fully complements the character and beauty of each type of flower. Here are some of my go-to approaches that I know will always work to bring a little extra beauty to a room.

Flowering Branches, Slightly Wild

Spring is the time for flowering branches, and bringing a few indoors can really deliver the drama. Quince is a favorite of mine—but forsythia is also one of the most successful branches for arranging. For a grand effect, place two tall vases next to each other and then fill both with the same type of flowering branches. It looks like one giant arrangement and makes a spectacular display. I really love this for forsythia, especially the kind that's slightly wild-looking with graceful arches. Even in a single large container, a thoughtfully unruly bunch of forsythia branches looks striking.

Daffodils Two Ways

These bright and cheerful flowers are among the first to appear each year and are such a welcome way to bring in color. I love to display them cut or planted in pots.

Potted in a Champagne Bucket

For potted daffodils, I like to put the whole container in a silver Champagne bucket; it’s such a fun way to display the plant inside and elevate this humble flower.

Cut in a Square Container

For cut arrangements, the form of a daffodil blossom suits a square container very well. One of the best tricks here is to make a grid across the top of the square vase with strips of tape and use that as an anchor for putting in a mixture of daffodils. They’ll stand up straight and orderly, almost like you’d find them in the garden—and you don’t have to rely on thousands of stems for a substantial-looking arrangement.

Roses in Bud Vases

While some flowers are suited to grand, showy arrangements, roses look equally lovely and elegant when displayed in a collection of bud vases. Cut the stems short or long, and use all of the same types of roses or different varieties in a grouping of bud vases. It’s simple, but it gives validity to the flowers and is a really unexpected way to display them.

Jumping Tulips in an Urn

Tulips are easy to grow and available at almost any place that sells flowers. Interestingly, they are one of the only flowers that keep growing after being cut, and if you don’t prick them with a pin where the flower head meets the stem, they will continue to extend in your arrangement. This is called jumping—when the tulips look crazy and bowed over. While most people treat their tulips to prevent this, I really love the look, and it doesn't take a lot of tulips to get a really good effect.

Be sure to clean the flowers really well—I like to take off all the leaves and make them look almost stark. Then put them in a beautiful vase and let them go all over the place like an octopus or a jellyfish—you end up with a beautiful, contained sort of wildness.

Hydrangeas Grouped

If you’re looking for volume, a big cloud of hydrangeas is the way to go. Some garden varieties have an especially long blooming period, meaning if you grow them, you can enjoy big arrangements for months on end. Hydrangeas from the garden do need to be conditioned properly so they don’t droop as soon as you arrange them—but they’re great in bucket-shaped containers or ginger jar shapes. Hydrangeas look beautiful in a monochromatic selection in a taller vessel. And while they are even pretty with just a stem or two, they look best when there is a mass of them.

Rhododendrons or Peonies in a Bowl

Rhododendrons and peonies are so detailed and beautiful, it’s really effective when you isolate them. Just select a few choice blooms and float the flower heads in bowls—it’s especially nice that you don’t have to denude your garden of blooms.

Because of the shape of the rhododendron, I like to use a fish bowl—or any bowl with high sides and a narrow top. Fill it with water about one-quarter full and float the flower head inside. It’s almost like you're looking at a Japanese fighting fish! The bowl acts like a magnifying glass, and you can really focus on the blossom itself, which is so pretty.

For peonies, put a row of bowls in different shapes and sizes down a table. Fill them with water, and put a different type or size of peony in each one—it’s simple but so attractive.

Lilacs With Their Greenery

Few things say spring like lilacs and their heavenly scent that fills a room. I like to display them in a large, dramatic arrangement—either monochromatic or all different colors—in an urn-shaped vase. Once cut, lilacs need to be conditioned so they last. Often, people will remove all the leaves because they tend to droop, but I like to give the leaves and flowers an opportunity to express themselves—and lilac’s purples and blues look great against green. But leaves or not, you are guaranteed to have your house look and smell like spring!

Whether you float single blossoms in a bowl or create a wild tangle of flowering branches, the key is to create an arrangement that highlights the character of whatever flowers you are using. Use a vase that complements the flowers and aligns with your vision, and enjoy all the beauty that fresh flowers bring to your space.

Read the original article on Martha Stewart.