When we were in Thailand I could fill my entire house with flowers for $10. And I did, monthly! The flower markets were abundant, and filled with the most unique variety! The price allowed me some extra wiggle room to play around with colors and size. Since coming back to America I found that my favorite types of bouquets usually ring in around $75, yikes!

I need flowers in my life so I started to look more closely at Trader Joe’s! When I went today I took a second to just pull what looked best together and figured I’d check the price after…always the right choice, are you with me? I was pleasantly surprised to find out that everything you see right here cost me $18.. and it makes my heart SO happy to spend the time designing it!

Here is the way that I approach the Pick-Your-Own floral section at Trader Joe’s, or your local store, to create an elegant, unique bouquet for your gatherings or just for everyday!

Pick Your Color Profile:

When looking straight on to the flower section, you need to have a “plan de fleur”, aka flower game plan, or you will walk away having emptied your wallet with a bouquet that looks less than something you would confidently place…anywhere. So, to start we recommend that you pick 3 colors to work with. For us green is always in the mix, ALWAYS. Then you can either match the colors to the occasion, season, the room that it will decorate, OR what the store currently has.

I try as best as I can to put the colors together at the store to see if any REALLY clash. This truly is up to your personal style. I prefer more muted tones so I don’t want anything that screams, “Hey, was I invited?”

In this bouquet above you will see that I picked:

1. Greens, always greens

2. White flowers

3. I picked up on the subtle purple hints in the eucalyptus and included it in other smaller flowers with that tone as well.

Take away: 3 colors.

Buying The Flowers

Flowers:

So you have your colors, now what? I recommend picking a variety of style/textured pieces across the colors. This way it creates a more wispy, natural look vs. perfectly rounded variety. What this looks like for me is one large flower, one smaller flower, and one filler flower.

Greens:

Greens are THE most important part of an elegant bouquet. My biggest recommendation is to buy two different types of greens. In the bouquet above you will see that I purchased a large leaf green and a small leaf green. My recommendation is to do just that.

The quantity you buy will depend on how big your vase is. I had a wide mouth vase and for me 1 small bunch of each of the flowers/greens came together beautifully!

Designing the Arrangement:

Trim the Flowers:

This is something I wish I could be at the table with you to explain. What I do is I pick my vase and stand up all the flowers and greenery next to it. I try to have the bulk of the greens and flowers rest right above the mouth of the vase. For example, I dont want inches of the stem exposed at the top. What you risk by doing that is having a “floppy” bouquet.

This is a trial and error process. Trim a little and then put it in the vase to see how it falls. It’s better to trim a little at a time than trim too much and have them sink in the vase. You got this!

Start With the Greens:

The greenery is your canvas. Place one type at a time staggering them so they are evenly placed! I spend some time “fluffing” to make sure they look wispy and very natural.

Add the Biggest Flowers First:

Start off with the largest flower and space them evenly across the greens. If you really want to get into intricate design, I trim the large flowers in the front by an inch or so to allow them to fall lower in the front of the bouquet. Not necessary but a little insider tip.

Add in the Smaller Flowers

It’s likely you have one flower slightly smaller than the other. At this point just go ahead in the same way to fill in smaller flowers in the mix. What the large flowers do is pave the way, and the small flowers follow along.

Time for the Final Touches

If you’ve been to our charcuterie classes you’ll know that I’m NUTS about herbs. I use them to enhance the aesthetic of all my food. Why? Becuase it brings all of the food together! So in line with that I would say before the filler flowers you shold like your bouquet about 80%. To bring it all together we’re going to add the filler flower or greens.

To do this you are going to take small bunches and add them in between the flowers to create that fullness and make it look more like a wild garden. At the end I finish off with any “pulling & placing” just to make sure it falls nicely. Remember, any overhang off the side of the vase is HIGHLY encouraged!

So what do you think, Do you like it? I must say, that may just be my favorite way to spend $18!