How to Make a Pretty Arrangement from Grocery Store Flowers

Grocery store flowers often come pre-wrapped with an assortment of blooms. You may think, "I can just pick this up at the store and put it in a vase." While some arrangements will look fine as they are, many store-bought bouquets have flowers all cut the same length, which doesn't make a flower arrangement look as complete and polished as possible. Luckily, it's easy to spruce up grocery store flowers to create a stunning floral display.

Preparing a Vase

Start by prepping the vase you plan to put the grocery store flowers in. Fewer tall flowers will look better in a narrow vase, while a large bouquet will sit better in a vase with a wide mouth. Once you decide what vessel to use, fill the vase halfway with fresh water and add plant food ($8, Amazon) (many bouquets come with a packet of food inside the wrapper). Stir in the food until it dissolves into the water.

Use floral tape ($7, Amazon) to create a grid pattern across the mouth of the vase. This makes a guide for filling the vase and will help keep heavier flowers in place.

Prepping Grocery Store Flowers

Unwrap the bouquet and start to separate the stems. Sort the grocery store flowers in any helpful way, but we recommend sorting them by color, shape, or flower type. That will make it easier to balance the flowers and spread similar flowers throughout the arrangement.

Pull off the excess leaves on each stem. They'll get brown and mushy in the water, which isn't a pretty sight in a clear vase and will clutter the arrangement.

Assemble Layers of Flowers

When assembling a flower arrangement, starting with a layer of greenery is always good. It helps make the vase look more full and softens the look. If your bouquet didn't come with greenery, you could use sprigs of eucalyptus or fern fronds. Add focal point flowers, usually the largest and most colorful in the group. Next, add accent flowers (which are smaller) around the focal point flowers. Then, use more delicate flowers to fill in the empty gaps.

If flowers are left over from the bouquet, create smaller arrangements to match the larger floral design. Fill small vessels and bud vases with water and add one or two flowers in each. You can create a centerpiece by arranging all the vessels with each other, or you can place them around your home or event space.