Upgrade Grocery Store Flowers

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

Your supermarket stocks fresh-cut flowers that cost a fraction of what the florist charges, but the bouquets lack grace and style. If you take apart those banal bunches of blooms, however, and remember a few quick lessons, you'll be able to transform themost common supermarket flowers into charming centerpieces.

Divide and conquer.This mixed bouquet -- carnations, chrysanthemums, Oriental lilies, roses, golden solidagos, and a few stems of greenery -- is typical of those sold in supermarkets. It's a confused mishmash of colors, textures, and sizes.

View the five stunning centerpieces Real Simple created from these flowers on the following slides.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

CONTRAST COLORS

Red roses and red carnations seem more vibrant when accented with a few sprigs of bright yellow solidago.

Lesson: Never mix more than two contrasting colors in the same vase.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

GO MONOCHROMATIC

All the bouquet's pink blooms -- alstroemeria, carnations, lilies, and daisies -- are pulled out, cut short, and rearranged in a cylindrical vase.

Lesson: Assorted flowers of different sizes and shapes can be mixed when they're all in the same color family, such as reds and pinks, yellows and oranges, or reds and purples.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

CONTRAST TEXTURES

Orange alstroemeria is paired with hypericum berries for a lush and bold autumnal bouquet. The marriage of smooth, round berries and spiky flowers proves that opposites attract.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

CONTRAST TEXTURES

Lesson: When pairing two dissimilar flowers, choose varieties with distinctly different textures and shapes.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

CUT AND EDIT

Red roses are always available, and more often than not they're sold with unnecessary greenery and baby's breath.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

CUT AND EDIT

For a dramatic arrangement, cut the stems short and place the roses in a simple frosted cylinder vase. Let the stems rest against one another to create a perfect mound of red.

Lesson: Don't be afraid to discard unwanted accents or chop down long stems.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

MAKE IT A MASS

Carnations are sold in almost every shade of the rainbow, and because they're inexpensive, you can buy two bunches for the cost of one of another flower.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers

MAKE IT A MASS

Cut the stems short and stuff a vase, leaving no space between the blooms.

Lesson: Common flowers look more sophisticated in large quantities.

Upgrading Grocery Store Flowers