All great floral arrangements start with gorgeous flowers, and it’s best to source directly from local farmers when possible both to ensure the quality of your blooms and to support your neighboring flower economy.
That’s why She Loves Me works directly with local growers so we’re always working with the freshest florals!
But sometimes you’re in a rush, or don’t have easy access to locally-grown flowers. That doesn’t mean you can’t make a beautiful bouquet with what’s easily available.
What’s the biggest trick to making your flowers look expensive? Grocery store flowers tend to have tight, closed buds, so what you want to do is get them to open up! Large, frilly petals fill up your bouquets and make them look more elegant.
Here are some florist tips and secrets to getting your flowers to open up and look professionally arranged:
Blow on Them
This may sound silly, but the first and easiest step to opening your blooms is to blow on them. This helps loosen the petals and gets them to separate from each other, and works mainly on Roses.
Spinning
This trick works particularly well with roses that are a few days older, where the petals are a bit softer than a fresh rose. Turn the flower upside down and hold the stem in between your palms. Press your palms back and forth to make the flower spin, which loosens up the petals to open them up more. This helps give the illusion that your grocery store rose is a Garden Rose, which are highly prized for their lush, ruffled petals.
Reflexing
A great trick to try with roses after you’ve spun them is called reflexing. Starting from the outside layer of petals, put your thumb against each individual petal and use your pointer finger to gently coax the petal to turn outwards. Rotate the flower and work towards the center, trying to reflex as many petals as you can carefully and slowly, so you don’t tear the petals. A successfully reflexed rose can look like an expensive Peony, which is a great trick if these pricey stems aren’t in your budget!
This also works with a flower you may not have considered purchasing: Carnations, which we love for their versatility and low price point. Just look at these stunners we used to create an elegant flower crown:
To open carnations: go around the base of the bloom and delicately peel back every other green “V” (called the sepal) just slightly. Then use your fingers to press the petals out, feathering them to make the flower look much larger and more beautiful. This is a great trick to keep in mind if you purchase a bunch of carnations that haven’t fully opened yet!
Once you’ve mastered this trick, try it on other flowers as well -- We love how doing this with Tulips can transform them to look like stunning tropicals.
Other Tricks to Keep in Mind
The best way to make a bouquet look expensive is to mix different kinds of flowers together. Try arranging it so you have a consistent mix of smaller buds, larger focal blooms, and plenty of greenery to frame them.
These are just a few of the tricks you’ll learn in our Flower Arranging Basics workshop, which you can take from the comfort of your home! Or if you’re looking for something fun to do with your friends this winter, why not schedule a virtual Live Compote Arranging class, so you’ll be ready to make all your own centerpieces for the holidays?
FAQs
The best way to make a bouquet look expensive is to mix different kinds of flowers together. Try arranging it so you have a consistent mix of smaller buds, larger focal blooms, and plenty of greenery to frame them.
How to make dollar store flowers look expensive? ›
First, you need to put some floral foam in your vase. You can buy that at the dollar tree too. Then cut some of your stems to the length you want and start adding them in. I like to kind of figure out the style and size of my arrangement with some of my first stems.
How do you perk up grocery store flowers? ›
Add three teaspoons of sugar to the lukewarm water in your vase, and place the wilted flower in and let it sit. The sugar will perk them right up!
Why are grocery store flowers so cheap? ›
A large company like Kroger has significant buying power and, in some cases, even has flower farms that only grow for their stores. Since they are buying these wholesale flowers by the truckload and dispersing them to their hundreds of stores, they are able to get them cheaper.
How to make cheap roses look expensive? ›
Rotate the flower and work towards the center, trying to reflex as many petals as you can carefully and slowly, so you don't tear the petals. A successfully reflexed rose can look like an expensive Peony, which is a great trick if these pricey stems aren't in your budget!
How to make cheap fake flowers look better? ›
Bend Each Stem
Just as real flower stems exhibit flexibility and curvature, faux stems should also be bent and shaped to mimic this organic growth pattern. By bending each stem, you can create a more lifelike composition, with flowers appearing to sway and arch gracefully just as they would in nature.
How do you jazz up supermarket flowers? ›
Here's another pro tip that will take your arrangement to the next level: Mix in greenery like ferns, eucalyptus leaves, or long grasses. “I always start with a mixed green bouquet, which is important to get that wild look,” Stembel says.
How to make supermarket roses look good? ›
“This is the best tip for your supermarket roses,” said Alexander Campbell (aka TikTok's @acfloralstudio). “First, take all the leaves off.” Then, “You need to take off the guard petals — these ugly ones,” referring to the outer petals that tend to brown and lose their shape first.
How to wrap supermarket flowers? ›
Cut a square of brown paper, fold it in half to make a triangle and place the flowers in. Roll the left side of the paper over, hold and roll the other side over. For extra hold, I like to use some washi tape here (also because my Beyonce tape via The Cornrow is pretty special).
How do you make store bought flowers look expensive? ›
Pro Tip: Adding a variety of greenery or foliage will make your bouquet look fuller. If you mix 2-3 foliage types with 2-3 feature flowers, you'll achieve a designer look without the high prices. This combination ensures that your cheap flowers will look expensive. Plus, your flower arrangement will be bright and full.
Some grocery stores can offer customers lower costing bouquets because they buy many bulk flowers at once. They are also able to reduce labor costs by using unprocessed flowers to create simple designs that customers choose themselves from an open display area in the store.
Do supermarkets receive the same quality of flowers as a florist? ›
The quality at the florist is usually better. In the grocery store the flowers are displayed such that everyone can touch and handle them, so they are not going to look as pretty as those from a florist shop. Also big box stores buy in a high enough quantity to get a larger discount than mom and pop florist shops.
Can you dye Dollar Tree flowers? ›
I have an easy answer!!!
I used Rustoleum Satin spray paint in Lagoon, Aqua and Vintage Teal for my project. Slide the leaves on your flowers down so they don't get paint on them and then gently spray the blooms until you get your desired color.
Do Dollar General sell real flowers? ›
Save on Valentine's. Day gifts at your local Dollar General.
Why are fake flowers so expensive? ›
That's because artificial flowers that look like the real thing are made of silk, or other high-quality materials that give them a life-like appearance, which can be more expensive than fresh flowers. Depending on the types of flowers you use, silk flowers may cost from one to five dollars more per stem than real.
