Vases not only provide a constant supply of moisture to flower arrangements, but they also increase the general aesthetics of the display. A vase can remove the beauty of the composition if it’s too short or excessively tall, making the arrangement seem unbalanced and distracting the eye in the flowers’ beauty. As a rule, the tallest flowers in an arrangement must equal the vase’s height and 1 1/2 times the vase’s height.
Fill two buckets one-half to two-thirds full of warm water. Hold the cut ends of the flower stems under water in one of the buckets. Cut off the bottom 1 inch of each stem with a sharp knife, making each cut in a 45-degree angle. Set the flowers upright in the second bucket of water to soak and rehydrate while you compute vase size.
Remove the tallest blossom in the bucket. Measure its length in inches with a tape measure. Set the flower back in the bucket.
Divide the flower’s dimension by 2.5 to ascertain the proper height of the vase. For example, if the height of the tallest flower equals 15 inches, then divide 15 by 2.5 for 6, indicating that the very best vase for this arrangement is 6 inches tall.
Choose a vase having a height equivalent to the calculated dimension. Fill the vase one-half full of water. Set the flower stems into the vase one at a time, beginning with the tallest flowers.