Lesson 1
Why arrange?
Flower arranging is not florist's work — it's domestic alchemy. The flowers in a supermarket bunch are six days old before they reach you; the flowers from your garden are six minutes old. With even a clumsy hand they will look like something only a small private garden can produce.
This masterclass is not about formal floristry. It's about the everyday gesture of cutting what you grew, conditioning it well, and putting it where you'll see it — kitchen jug, hall table, bedside. The same set of principles scales up to a serious arrangement if you want; it scales down to a tumbler of cosmos on a windowsill if you don't.
We'll cover the four-role rule (focal, filler, line, accent), the tools you actually need, the conditioning routine that doubles vase life, the mechanics that hold an arrangement upright without florist's foam, seasonal recipes you can copy this weekend, and finally drying and preserving so the season lasts beyond first frost.
What you'll be able to do by the end
- Walk into your garden in any season and come back with the makings of a good arrangement.
- Condition every flower properly so it lasts 8–14 days, not 2.
- Set up support inside a vase without using florist's foam.
- Build a balanced arrangement using the four roles.
- Adapt three reliable seasonal recipes (spring, summer, autumn).
- Dry and press flowers for use through winter.