Bowl Full of Flowers – Arranging Tips
Ever struggle making one of those lush bowl full of flower arrangements? Here are my 5 best arranging tips to get the look!
Looking for a beautiful floral arrangement for the upcoming holiday season? Don’t dismiss the classic bowl full of flowers style centerpiece! If you have a beautiful shallow bowl, fill it with flowers in colors of the season and let a low dome shaped arrangement grace your tablescape.
For my Thanksgiving tablescape inspiration, I created a gorgeous centerpiece using a classic Wedgwood embossed Queensware lavender on cream bowl. For the florals I mixed deep burgundies with pink, white, and green for a rich autumnal look. The flower types include: dahlias, carnations, and roses with a filler flower and a decorative kale leaf. I wanted to echo the blues in this Schumacher fabric without it feeling matchy-matchy!
Enjoy this quick time-lapse video of me arranging this bowl full of flowers:
5 Tips to Arrange Flowers in a Shallow Bowl
No. 1 Start with the right foundation
I like to use wet floral foam blocks to arrange flowers. I think it helps the florals last longer and it is easy to work with. In the video you can see I used blocks cut to the size of the bowl and then put clear floral tape across the top to hold them in place.
Don’t skip that step as it keeps the blocks from shifting.
No. 2 Work in quadrants
As you build a multi-colored floral arrangement in a shallow bowl you want to be sure every view is pleasing to the eye because it will be seen from all sides. It is helpful to think about the area in quadrants like pie slices. Each quadrant should have at least one of every color flower you are using.
It takes more flowers as you work outwards to the bowl rim or “pie crust”.
No. 3 Buy lots of flowers
Filling a bowl full of flowers takes a lot of flowers. It just does!
This shallow bowl floral arrangement took a dozen roses, half a dozen dahlias with medium heads, half a dozen dahlias with small heads, a bunch of small flower filler, 3 decorative kale stems, and a dozen carnations. The bowl has a 10 inch diameter.
No. 4 Use filler to your advantage
While you need enough “star” flowers like the dahlias and roses to make the arrangement eye catching, don’t neglect the power of filler flower and greenery to accent those “stars” and make the arrangement more interesting. Filler flowers add variety in texture and color.
They are also key to filling in the space without breaking the bank. Use filler flowers or greenery to fill in the gap between the bowl rim and the first “star” flower. I like to save some bunches for the end to go back and tuck in as needed.
No. 5 Don’t pack the flowers too tight
My goal with a bowl full of flowers is to keep it low and compact so guests at the table can easily talk over it. If you opt for a symmetrical dome like shape for the arrangement, don’t pack the flower heads in too tightly. You can avoid this by varying the heights of the stems and by mixing the variety of flower shapes and sizes.
I hope you find these tips to arranging a bowl full of flowers helpful! Let me know your biggest struggle with flower arrangements, and I’ll see if I can help!
P.S. this is a sneak peek of the Thanksgiving table collection dropping on Instagram October 27th at 8PM EST. The Wedgwood bowl will be available along with the Evesham dishware, Schumacher fabric, and more!