Chelsea Fuss’ 5 Pro Tips for Beautiful Flowers on a Budget

Over the past few days we’ve looked into the lovely culinary corner of Chelsea Fuss and learned about her favorite cooking tools. Today Chelsea shares her pro tips on how to keep flowers looking their best in the kitchen and at your table. Just look at those romantic blossoms!

Here’s how you can create a beautiful bouquet like this, without breaking the bank.

“I always look for flowers that are soft, wild-looking and bend easily,” Chelsea says. “Stems like gerberas or lilies are stiff and tough to work with and to combine with other flowers, they have their place, but they won’t give you a wildflower look. My favorite gardens are wild and billowy with patches of buttercups or Queen Anne’s lace, grasses, or bluebells, vines, and creeping ground covers like thyme, so I like my flower arrangements to offer that same, untamed look.

“The goal is for it to look like it wasn’t designed at all, like it just happened. My favorite arrangements have a mix of small and large blossoms, a filler flower like mimosa or wax flower, lots of greens, and a vine. The goal is to make it look as if the flowers were wild and you were just gathering them up.”

Here are some of her favorite flowers to work with that offer a wild, just-picked-from-the-garden look:

• Waxflower
• Camellia greens
• Berried ivy
• Viburnum
• Ranunculus
• Garden roses
• Spray roses (a great garden look for a budget)
• Hyacinth
• Herbs (shop the produce section)
• Jasmine

Beyond those general thoughts on creating wild, beautiful bouquets, here are some thoughts from Chelsea on creating flower arrangements on a budget.

Seasonal flowers are always less expensive.

Make the bulk of your arrangement greenery and filler flowers and then buy three focal flowers (larger showy flowers, like roses) and 3 to 5 stems of secondary flowers (not quite as showy, like ranunculus). The greenery and filler will probably last well over a week or two, then you can just switch out the focal and secondary flowers as they wilt.

Look for flowers that take up a lot of space in an arrangement, like hyacinths or hydrangea so that you won’t need as many stems.

Recut immediately when you bring them home from the florist or grocery, and cut them at an angle.

Always keep flowers in fresh water and clean vases and away from sunlight.

Thanks for the tips, Chelsea!

• Visit her blog: Frolic!
• View her prop styling portfolio: Chelsea Fuss portfolio
• Take one of her floral arranging classes: Floral Arranging 101