How to pull together a last minute flower arrangement for Mom

Yes, folks that time of year has come again, the time where you have to show your mother the much needed love she deserves for (painfully) bringing your bright and shining smile into this earth. Now if you are anything like me, sometimes our busy lives get the best of us and Mother’s Day creeps up on us faster than we anticipated. This year, rather than finding yourself waiting in line at the grocery with one of those tacky (you are the light in my life) Mother’s Day cards, skip the greeting card aisle and run on over to the flower section of your local grocer to grab a few fresh bunches of flowers. Our darling friend Rachel, shows us not only how to arrange them like a pro, but how to keep it under budget, so you don’t break the bank.

Click through to find out how it’s done and what you need to buy:

Step 1: Before you head to the store to get a few bunches of flowers, look around your yard (or your neighbors) and see what greens or flowering branches you might find. We picked the greens on the table, because of the large leaf size, and the white flowering branches because of the way that they fall and the small cluster of flowers. Sometimes you may have what you need in your very own backyard and you may not need to buy too much more at the store.

You will also need a small vessel (we picked ours up from Target, which is sadly no longer available online but it is in store), wire clippers, chicken wire, and a few bunches of grocery store flowers (we went with White Ranunculus and Purple Lilac which we were able to pick up at Trader Joe’s for under $15.00)

Step 2: Unwrap all of your flowers from the packaging and trim the ends on a diagonal.

Step 3: Remove all the leaves that will fall below the water line. This is an important step to not only increase the life of your flowers but also beautify your arrangement and make it so that your flowers do not look too crowded in the vase.

Step 4: Cut a strip of chicken wire to fit within your vessel and mold it to fit into the vessel. This is what will help create a structure to hold your arrangement up. You will then want to fill your vessel about half way up with water.

Step 5: Start with the greens and more linear flowers. Place at an angle, through the chicken wire. The greens act as a base and filler, so let them pretty much fill the space and create the foundation of your arrangement.

Step 6: Next use the lilac which is our accent flower in this arrangement. Place at an angle through the chicken wire, similar to the greens.

Step 7: Finally, add the white ranunculus, which is our focal flower. The larger blooms go in first because you want them in the center of the arrangement. To add dimension make sure you leave some stems longer than others. Save the smaller headed blooms for the back of the arrangement. The vase should already be pretty full, and should be able to support the ranunculus.

Finally you will want to fill in with greens or lilac as needed and check to make sure the arrangement is full enough on all sides so the chicken wire can’t be seen.

And voila! You have a beautiful (and budget friendly) bouquet to give to Mom on her special day.

**styling and floral arrangement provided by Rachel Osguthorpe, all photos taken by the lovely Emmy Lowe, and art directed and written by me.