How to Make a Victorian Flower Arrangement

The Victorian era was a time for new ideas, lavish dresses and entertaining. Flowers were commonly used in this era for decoration, fashion and courtship. Victorian flower arrangements are characteristically large and luxuriant displays that are sometimes adorned with jewelry or other decoration.

Wealthy families displayed their status by splurging on expensive arrangements. Victorians associated meanings with each type of flower and conveyed messages by carefully selecting each flower used in the flower arrangement. Lovers exchanged love messages through hand-held tussie mussie bouquets. The opulence of Victorian flower arranging is reflected in modern bridal bouquets and ornate vase arrangements.

Container
Flower frog
3 to 4 flower varieties
Knife
Floral stripper
Decorative items
Water

Instructions

- 1
  Select a decorative container that complements the arrangement without clashing with the flowers. You can use a fancy vase, urn or basket to hold the display.
- 2
  Place a flower frog in the bottom of your container. Flower frogs have several holes to hold flowers in place, making it much easier to create shape and add dimension.
- 3
  Choose three to four types of mass, form and filler flowers for your arrangement. Select a variety of flowers, such as lilies, roses, chrysanthemums, baby's breath and heather.
- 4
  Strip the leaves from each stem with a knife or floral stripper and cut to the desired length. Keep similar flowers the same length to give the arrangement a sense of uniformity, but cut each different flower variety a different length to add dimension to the arrangement.
- 5
  Place the form flowers into the vase and spread them equal distances apart to form a uniform shape. Form flowers have distinctive shapes to add focal points or emphasis in an arrangement. Lilies are often used to create the form of a flower arrangement and they should have longer stems than the mass and filler flowers.
- 6
  Insert your mass flowers evenly around the form flowers to create another uniform dimension of flowers with slightly shorter stems than the form flowers. Mass flowers add mass to an arrangement and fill in the most space within a flower arrangement. They might include flowers such as roses, tulips, peonies and chrysanthemums.
- 7
  Fill in any gaps with one or two types of filler, such as baby's breath or foliage such as ivy. These should be about the same length as the mass flowers so they aren't hidden beneath the large blooms.
- 8
  Use flowers that are seasonal to your region to reflect the Victorian tradition of flower arranging with fresh flowers from the garden.
- 9
  Embellish the flower arrangement by including fruit and natural items among the flowers. You also could drape a strand of beads throughout the flowers or on the container.
- 10
  Add a few inches of water in the container and put the arrangement on display.

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