Many people enjoy arranging their own flowers and look to their local and online florists for the raw materials for their masterpieces. Fresh-cut flowers can be bought in bunches of you favorite flowers and come ready to be trimmed, placed and “molded” into the perfect floral design. And, choosing loose flowers can be a wonderfully cost-effective alternative to having your florist do arrangements for you if you are on a budget or are cost conscious. Your own flower designs make very personalized gifts for those you care about and you have much more flexibility than you might have by choosing an arrangement online.

However, if you want to do your own flower arrangements, your florist will prove a terrific resource for you as you design multiple arrangements for gifts to friends and family and their loose bouquets can make your job easier so that you don not have to buy multiple bouquets of the same flower to find a few for each of your arrangements. And, they can offer suggestions for bringing your designs to life if you know what you want to do but are not sure what flowers might be best to make it happen. Because they are professionals with design backgrounds, you may find the bouquets they create are the perfect combination of colors and textures and just what you are looking for when you are looking for it.

For those of you just starting out on your DIY floral design adventure, you will want to think about a few things before you begin including so that you do not waste efforts (or flowers!) including:

Tools such as shears and thorn strippers

Vases and other containers

Floral foam or foam spheres (for pomanders)

Ribbons, beads and other embellishments

Greenery

You will also want to read up on floral design in any books, blogs and online forums you can find. These will be helpful as you navigate what be a very challenging endeavor in the beginning. Pre-selected bouquets will be especially good for your first few arrangements when you are not completely sure of what you are doing or if your designs will turn out as planned. And, if things do not work out and you need an arrangement for a gift, you can forgo the bouquets of loose flowers and choose a professional arrangement from your florist to help you out in a pinch.

What to do next? Buy your flowers from our Toronto Flower Shop.