Do you have any tricks of the trade that make your job easier, whether it’s creating a breathtaking arrangement or setting up for an event? We have listed some of our favorite ones below and would love to learn some more because we believe you can never have enough tricks up your sleeve.

1. Ever found yourself with a deadline and flowers that are not quite ready to be arranged? There are a few tricks you can use to open closed buds.
   
   • By dipping them in hot to warm water for 5 seconds to a few hours, depending on the flower type, and then back into cold water. Hot water works especially well for roses, hydrangeas, and dusty millers. Warm water, on the other hand, works well for flowers like Asiatic lilies.
   • Open blooms manually by first observing how the petals are formed, then gently and slowly moving the petals a little bit at a time. This technique works especially well for roses and carnations.
   • Blow into the flower, you can either use a blower and diffuser or do it old school using your mouth. This technique takes a while to master though, so be patient. It also works best on roses.
   • Use a product like Floralife quick dip, an instant hydration solution that works really well on roses.
2. Create a unified and balanced bouquet by using a metal grid. Place flowers in a vase by overlapping the stems and turning the vase with flowers placed on angels on the outward portion of the vase.
3. Trim and process flowers as soon as you receive them. Always trim stems at a sharp angle (45°) as this creates a larger surface area for the flower to absorb water through. Never cut stems in a straight line as this causes the cut edge to rest against the bottom of the container blocking the flower’s ability to absorb water. This always increases the risk of stem developing bacteria faster. Some florists advocate for smashing woody stems with a mullet to increase the surface area for faster absorption, but this also increases the surface area for bacteria to proliferate and can actually inhibit water absorption. We strongly recommend a single clean cut using a sharp object knife or cutter.

   

4. Plan your bouquets in advance considering color and texture before purchasing your flowers. This will save you time and wastage as you will know in advance what you want to create. It also helps to always start with the big arrangements and finishing off with the smaller ones as this gives an opportunity to utilize the flowers that might have been cut too short or were too small for the bigger bouquets.
5. Layout all the flowers you want to use on a flat surface before starting your creative process. Arrange the different flowers and greeneries in the order you would like to add them to the bouquet to save time. Create your arrangements in layers adding greenery first, then add the blooms one type at a time, saving your special blooms for last once your base is set. Also, flowers compete for light so adding unopened buds and smaller blooms on top of bigger ones allow them to access sunlight and live for longer.