Unlike bouquets, an arrangement of flowers are put in floral foam which has been previously impregnated with water. Our expert florists are sharing some tips and best practices so you can enjoy them longer.
Arrangement or bouquet?
In both cases, your florists is using cut flowers that need individual care. But as opposed to bouquet, an arrangement is done in a specific support, the floral foam. This foam can be placed in a vase, in a pot, in a container, glass or used alone and covered with leaves for example. Unlike for a bouquet, an arrangement is not put directly in water. But your flowers will still need some water!Floral foam, the best ally of your flowers
Basically the floral foam is the same thing as what’s inside of a stem of a flower, a sponge-like texture that takes up the water and absorbs it. This lightweight and porous material is also pH balanced so the acidity of the environment to the flowers remains at an optimum
level. Floral foam was invented in 1954 by the Smithers-Oasis company and this has been a kind of revolution for the florists helping them to create original shapes like round centrepieces, funeral crosses, flowers in baskets... Floral foam also extends the life of the arrangements by giving them a reliable and steady moisture source as it can hold large quantities of water.
Water
Your florist prepared the foam carefully so that your flowers can get all the nutriments and water needed. For that he/she used a large container or a sink filled up with tap water and specific flower food for floral foam. This will boost the longevity of the floral arrangements up to 30% longer than water only because of a high absorption of water, no dripping, making it easy to cut and holding the stems well in place. The only thing you need to do is to bring some water every day or every 2 days according to the size of the arrangement, the season, the conditions... No need to add any flower food in the water as the quantity used originally by the florist is sufficient.
Tip: to make it easier to put water inside the arrangement, use a small watering can and bring water in the middle from the top.
Did you know?
Eager to create your own arrangement with floral foam, here are some tricks
- Fill up a large bowl or sink with water, put the floral foam on top of it and that’s all! Let it submerge by itself and wait that the water comes into the brick. Most impatient people push it underwater which is a very very bad idea: this will create an air pocket inside the foam and when you later make your arrangement you will put the stem right into that air pocket. There will never be any water that gets absorbed into the stems!
- When your foam is ready, it will darken in colour. Remove it carefully from water and place it directly inside your container making sure it’s large enough for it. When using a basket in wood or a non-waterproof container, place some plastic in it before to prevent drips
