Vases and Containers for Flower Arranging

Flowers are beautiful. Selecting the right vase or container simply adds to the design. I tend to choose simple containers and vases, so they don’t detract from the beauty of the flowers. I enjoy browsing around second-hand shops and antique shops searching for vases, containers and urns. I get very excited when I find Wedgwood vases in charity shops!

Any container can be used to display flowers. If the container is not waterproof, you can add yogurt pots or margarine pots (if the container is not transparent of course!). When using an open neck container, such as a Wedgwood mantle vase, use chicken wire secured with pot tape, or a flower frog to hold the stems. Jam jars and condiment jars are great to use as bud vases dotted down a kitchen or dining table. I often search the shelves in supermarkets for different shapes and sizes of jars (a good way to recycle and reuse). I love Luminarc jars ( the jam jar in the picture above) – they look lovely with small posies of flowers – great as gifts for friends or family, finished off with a ribbon or some twine around the rim of the jar.

Wedgwood mantel vase with chicken wire secured with clear pot tape

Antique celery vases look very elegant. As they tend to have a wider neck, I use the taped grid technique to provide some structure when arranging the flowers. If you only have a few flowers, vintage bottles or glass perfume and reed diffuser bottles are good to use. Footed bowls display trailing flowers and foliage such as Clematis, Jasmine and Ivy beautifully.

Celery vase - the taped grid technique

Any type of bowl can be used to display flowers. The bowls pictured below are cereal bowls. I added some chicken wire and pot tape to create a colourful outside table display.

When arranging flowers in containers and vases I normally ensure the part of the flower visible above the container is around 1.5 times the height of the container or vase. This is just a general rule and wouldn’t necessarily be applicable to lower table designs such as table runners.