How To Choose The Perfect Flowers For Every Size Vase

While it may seem like a simple task, arranging a floral bouquet can actually be quite difficult. In fact, it's more of an art form than a job — it takes skill and strategy.

Perhaps you've tried to arrange flowers in a vase and found that they didn't look right. Maybe your flowers flopped over to one side, or perhaps you wondered if you chose the right flowers for your vase. Because many don't know what types of flowers are best for certain vases, these mistakes are common. Another common issue you may face is cutting flowers to the wrong height — Wirecutter says that the length of your flower stems shouldn't exceed double the height of your vase.

There are many different types of vases, from bud shapes to tall designs. Below, you'll first discover what florals work best in smaller vases. Then, you'll find out what flowers should be used in taller and larger vases.

When it comes to choosing flowers for small vases, it's important to stay away from heavy or tall flowers (like mammoth sunflowers), per Interflora. Instead, choose lighter flowers and cut them down so they're just a few inches above the top of the vase. Additionally, if you add more than one flower to your vase, cut the stems to varying heights to create a freshly picked appearance.

The smallest vases are called bud vases and can hold anywhere from one to three blooms. According to Jamali Garden, if you only want to use one bloom, you could choose a hydrangea, rose, orchid, or bird of paradise. If your bud vase is slightly taller, one iris could look beautiful. A pair of tulips could also look stunning. Or, if you want to add three stems, try using small sunflowers or peonies.

Some smaller vases are short but have large openings, such as cube vases. For these, you'll need more florals and perhaps some greenery to fill in the larger opening. A great filler flower you could use is a hydrangea, per Goop.

For medium-sized vases, just about any flower can be used, if cut down to the correct size. When choosing florals for tall vases, you want to make sure the stems are long enough to reach at least a few inches above the brim of the vase, according to Goop. The Old Farmer's Almanac suggests using flowers that are taller or have large blooms, like sunflowers, hydrangeas, and snapdragons. However, you also don't want them to be too tall, as they could flop over. Therefore, no matter the size or shape of the vase, cutting your florals according to the height of your vase is best.

Large vases will also most likely have a wider opening than smaller ones, which means you'll probably need a lot more flowers. You can also fill in extra space and add dimension to your floral arrangement by including greenery. Additionally, you could also use clear tape to create a grid-like system before arranging your flowers, which will prevent them from falling onto each side of the vase, per Food52. Alternatively, if you have a tall vase with a small, skinny opening, you could display just one single branch.