The 3 Secret Ingredients for Stunning Bouquets

“When you plant a cut flower garden, be sure at least 1/3 of the plants in the cutting garden are grown for foliage/greenery.”

When I read this years ago, I scoffed at the idea. Yeah right. What did this person know? I wanted to grow a FLOWER garden, not a bunch of boring foliage and greenery.

I went ahead and planted the garden the way I wanted to… because I’m stubborn like that and think I know better than everyone else. Ha!

By mid season, I was sheepishly standing in my garden with a bunch of Zinnias and Sunflowers and a few other odd bits, but sorely missing what I needed to make the beautiful bouquets I had imagined myself crafting.

It was a humbling moment… but my daughter and I were having fun and learning.

My bouquets were pretty uninspiring and quite honestly… they looked like something my 5 year old daughter had thrown together. ;) They were a mish-mash of whatever I could find, no structure or design. One of this, one of that… an eclectic, hodge-podge mix.

I’d started growing flowers with the intention of sharing them… but I was embarrassed by my dumpy looking bouquets that were obviously missing something (they were missing a LOT, actually). I knew I had a lot to learn!

I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to you, friend! I’m going to teach you a simple formula to make sure your “bouquet dreams” match your “bouquet reality”.

THE PROBLEM

It’s SO EASY to page through all the seed catalogs and go ga-ga over the big beautiful blooms… and completely overlook the vital elements you need to craft truly stunning bouquets.

Most new growers go for big and flashy flowers. I get it. The Zinnias, Dahlias and Sunflowers are show stoppers. No wonder they demand all our attention! We can’t take our eyes off of them!

But those flashy flowers alone aren’t enough to give us the full, lush look we’re going after.

We need more. But what?

THE SOLUTION

I like to keep things SUPER simple. When we create bouquets and arrangements at Three Acre Farm, we divide the ingredients in 3 basic categories:

1/3 Focal: The main flowers that capture the most attention.
1/3 Filler: The other flowers that compliment the Focal flowers
1/3 Foliage: The greenery that creates the foundation for the Focal and Filler flowers

My daughter and I taught a class about this topic at Fredrick Meijer Gardens over the summer (she’s all grown up now!).

The audience was delighted when they saw how easy it is to create a beautiful bouquet when you have all your ingredients divided into 3 buckets/categories:

One for Focal flowers
One for Filler flowers
One for Foliage

When my daughter and I make our bouquets together, we begin by pulling out our buckets of Focal, Filler and Foliage “ingredients” to make our bouquet recipe.

We lay all the “ingredients” out in front of us, just like the “mise en place” (French for “put in place”) concept of cooking/baking, which means everything is prepped and ready to go (stems have been stripped of leaves, rubber bands are ready, paper bouquet sleeves are set out, buckets for bouquets are prefilled).

We move down the workbench building the bouquets assembly line style, starting with Focal, adding interest and volume with Filler, and finishing with Foliage.

FOCAL + FILLER + FOLIAGE = COMPLETE BOUQUET

Most beginner growers make the mistake of only growing Focal flowers. They wonder why their bouquets look nothing like the full, lush arrangements they see on Pinterest.

My goal today is to teach you how to show some love and appreciation for the Filler and Foliage ;)

Let’s explore these 3 ingredients and how they work together to create lush, full bouquets.

*NOTE: These are “loose” categories and some plants can actually fit into multiple categories, depending on their size or stage of harvest.

FOCAL FLOWERS

Focal flowers are the big, flashy flowers that everyone loves to drool over. Because they are so big and bold, you’ll only need a few Focal flowers in your bouquet.

Examples of Focal flowers:

FILLER FLOWERS

Filler flowers don’t get enough credit! The word “filler” makes them seem insignificant, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Filler flowers complement and enhance the Focal flowers and make up the bulk of the bouquet. We grow entire fields of Filler flowers to make sure we have enough.

Examples of Filler flowers:

Ageratum, Amaranth, Ammi (False Queen Anne’s Lace), Celosia

Cosmos, Globe Amaranth, Salpiglossis, Scabiosa

FOLIAGE

Foliage is structure, the foundation that supports the bouquet (figuratively and sometimes literally).

If you ever look at a bouquet and think “Something is missing…”, 9 times out of 10, it’s missing Foliage. The Foliage enhances the beauty of the Focal and Filler flowers.

Examples of Foliage:

Assorted Shrubs/Bushes/Trees (Baptisia, Eucalyptus, Ninebark, Sem False Spirea, Smoke Bush, Spirea, Viburnum, etc)
Herbs (Lemon Basil, Lemon Balm, Mint, Oregano, Sage, etc)
Ornamental Grasses (Frosted Explosion, Green Drops Grass, etc)
Peppergrass
Scented Geranium

Buckets of Focal, Filler and Foliage prepped for our Stunning Centerpieces Class

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

This Focal + Filler + Foliage Formula is not just for bouquet making.

I use this same formula for selecting seeds and planning my garden layout… AND YOU CAN TOO!

Plant 1/3 Focal flowers
Plant 1/3 Filler flowers
Plant 1/3 Foliage

When you’re paging through your seed catalogs and eagerly circling all the Focal flowers… I’m here to gently remind you to put down the Sharpie, friend, and start considering some Filler flowers and Foliage too ;)

I know, I know… growing Filler and Foliage isn’t as exciting as growing the Focals… but TRUST ME. Your future self will be so glad you had the forethought and wisdom to do it anyway.

GET STARTED

Now it’s time for you to get to work!

1. Read this blog post again to make sure you understand the importance of “Focal, Filler and Foliage”.

2. Start your seed/plant “Wish List”, divided into 3 categories: Focal, Filler, Foliage.

3. Order your seeds and get growing!

READY FOR MORE?

If you’re serious about growing the garden of your dreams this year, and want me to answer all your burning questions, register for my online course, “Backyard Cutting Garden 101”.

You’ll find everything you need to plan, grow, harvest and arrange your stunning blooms. I can’t WAIT to help you grow! Click on the button below for all the details.

Ready for More