Beautiful bunches of tulips are available at this season of the year. It is a perfect time to make a stunning arrangement with these seasonal flowers. Start with a tall vase, a bunch of tulips and some river rocks to add height to the stems.

You want your tulips to stand at least as many inches above the vase as the vase is tall. If the stems are shorter than this measurement, add a couple of inches of river rocks to the bottom of the vase.

Cut your stems at an angle. If left flat the stem tends to lay flush against the vase or rocks making it harder for water to rise up to the flower. I also remove the lowest large leaves. These are often damaged by cutting and packaging and will sit below the water line, eventually decaying and spoiling the water.

Add your first flower, the tulip will have a curve, you want the stem to curve outward, but also to look as if the tulip is seeking the sun, not pointing at the ground.

Work your way around the vase in a series of four. Second stem, opposite the first, third in between the first and second, fourth opposite the third. Begin the second four stems the same way, but this time place stem five between stem one and two. You will have nicely spaced tulips when you have completed inserting these eight stems. Your vase will also have aesthetic appeal as the stems nicely criss-cross in a pattern instead of looking shoved in willy-nilly.

Eight stems in the vase…

Criss-Cross pattern

At this point you have created a “grid” of stems inside the vase. You can gently place the final two tulip stems directly in the center of this grid and the stems will stand tall and upright in the middle of your arrangement.

Happy Arranging!

Quick tip: Don’t be tempted to add daffodils to a spring arrangement. Daffodil stems infuse a toxin in the water that will kill all the other flowers. Daffodils must be arranged alone.