Spring Flower Arrangements

Kevin Sharkey placed a large cluster of solid and striped tulips in a vase, its gold stripes echoing, but not competing with, the flowers.

In this display, Kevin Sharkey arranged large leaves from a variegated hosta plant -- commonly found in gardens but not often used in arrangements -- to build a strong foundation (as well as color palette) for tree peonies and lady's mantle.

For this delicately colored display, Kevin Sharkey combined silky tulips; green snowball viburnums; large, single-petaled peonies; and the velvety foliage of scented geraniums.

When bright Icelandic poppies and tulips are in season, Kevin Sharkey's sweet tooth guides his arranging. "Candy-colored blossoms resonate unlike any other for me," he says. "I can almost taste the blooms." He began building this array with tulips, filled it out with ebullient poppies, and then softened the mass with frothy mimosa.

Jump-start spring by forcing branches of early-flowering trees and shrubs. Massed at eye level in a rustic trough, pink cherry blossoms join white dogwood and spirea to give armchair nature lovers a breath of fresh air. The branches stand in chicken wire that has been bent to fit the container's liner. Moss and lichen from a florist mask the wire support in sylvan style.

Stems of delphinium and larkspur in blue-violet tones form an arrangement that's at once subtle and opulent.

Occasions such as Mother's Day call for the floral equivalent of a big hug. Candy colors, mixed textures, and varied sizes radiate homey spontaneity, especially when the "vase" is endearingly improvised from a flea-market find. A yellow teapot, with ample room for water below a narrow opening, becomes the perfect vessel for clasping a generous bunch of tulips, hyacinths, peonies, and, of course, forget-me-nots.

Unless they're down on hands and knees for an outdoor egg hunt, people tend to overlook the exquisite shapes and tones of minuscule spring flowers. Give these plants the close-up they deserve by using eggcups as vases, which can hold pink lilies of the valley, species tulips, grape hyacinths, narcissus, violets, pansies, bleeding-heart leaves, and other small wonders. Try several cups on a tray for an Easter centerpiece or a single one to cheer up a desk or a bureau.

A single stem can be just as dramatic as a full bouquet. Here, a narrow-necked vessel holds a delphinium stem and the violet-tinged glass echoes the petals' color.

Even grocery-store roses look gorgeous when you snip off the stems and float them in glass votive candleholders, the perfect vessels for solitary blossoms.

This arrangement features tulips, lisianthus, waxflowers, and ranunculus in similar colors. Four individual arrangements are nestled in Champagne flutes, a great, unique vessel for flowers.

Brighten up your celebration of spring with a simple arrangement of lovely daffodils and lady's mantle.

Use the cheery Lilly Pulitzer color palette to create beautiful arrangements. A variety of feminine flowers such as peonies and sweet peas were used here.

Peonies are beautiful alone, but they can also be mixed with a variety of other spring flowers to create a magnificent arrangement.

This delicate tabletop arrangement will be a great addition to any dinner party.

Late January and February is the time of year when the arrival of spring flowers such as hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips can be seen at flower shops, markets, and grocery stores. Pair these spring blooms with unusual leaves to make beautiful one-of-a-kind arrangements for your home.

This lilac arrangement has height and visual drama with the help of a serving bowl from the kitchen or china cabinet.

For a unique gift or spring centerpiece, keep loosely cut flowers in place by filling your vase with jelly beans or other assorted candy. 

Create an easy outdoor centerpiece using Mom's favorite blooms and a basic white platter. Float flowers like these peonies in small bowls, and arrange them with votive candles for a modern look. On a long table, you can place a few platters down the middle.

Mingle dainty Spanish bluebells with fluffy chive blossoms for textured arrangements.

Here, brilliant violet Muscari latifolium and tight blooms of ranunculus get a boost in a lush, dense display.

Hollowed-out eggshells make naturally beautiful vases for tiny flower arrangements. Break an egg at the top of its shell, drain the contents, and carefully rinse out the inside. Next, fill the empty shell with room-temperature water and place it in an eggcup for stability. Finally, insert small cuttings of your favorite blossoms (we used lilacs, lily of the valley, and violas). Individually or grouped together in a centerpiece, these tiny arrangements make a wonderful addition to the place settings at your table.

Here, daffodils are arranged in a simple vase, which showcases the beauty of the flowers with their different-hued centers. Daffodils release a substance harmful to other flowers, so they are best kept to themselves in arrangements.

As spring flowers bloom in your garden, bring their beautiful colors and scents indoors. Martha uses daffodils and hyacinths from her garden to create lovely seasonal arrangements.

This springtime arrangement, which features roses and hydrangeas, is made possible thanks to the buttons surrounding en masse the stems in the vase. The buttons keep the flowers upright while adding a whimsical touch inside the clear vase.

This unusual arrangement features five open peonies floating in a transferware punch bowl. When floating flowers in water, first cut the stems to less than an inch; if a flower has trouble floating, use a flower float -- or cut a circle of Bubble Wrap and thread the stem through the center bubble.

A vintage tole basket makes a charming container for these pink peonies framed by broad hosta leaves. Because the metal basket isn't watertight, we hid water-filled jars inside it to hold the flowers. Although built one stem at a time, this is a quick and casual arrangement: Start with the largest blooms, and tuck in the hosta leaves last.

We gathered an armful of garden roses in a tight range of soft colors to form this arching dome, set in a 19th-century blown-glass compote. The stems were inserted one by one, steadied by a floral frog at the vase's base.

'Charles de Mills,' 'The Reeve,' and 'Pearlie Mae' roses from Martha's garden were cut close to the bloom and the stems woven together for support in a mercury-glass cup.

The stems of these cool-blue delphiniums were cut at various lengths to complement the container's curvy shape; the shortest stalks, inserted last, extend only a few inches into the water.

This oversize urn arrangement includes Kousa dogwood, mock orange, viburnum, mountain laurel, and garden roses. 

This fishbowl garden has echeveria, aeonium, tree peonies, paphiopedilum, asparagus ferns, lotus pods, scabiosa seed heads, and pitcher plant flowers.

This low centerpiece features hydrangeas, dusty miller, sea thistle, roses, echinops, astrantia, mountain laurel, clematis, lady's mantle, and blueberries.

This slender Juliska glass vase is a perfect container for long-stemmed Darwin tulips. Martha cut the stems as long as the vase and lined them up as straight as possible.

Martha has a penchant for clear-glass containers such as this one, which shows off a wonderful mix of tulips, white bleeding hearts, and the wavy leaves of bird’s-nest fern.

A European tulipiere was designed to display one tulip in each "finger." "I love to mix small fringed tulips with early viburnum and muscari in this vessel," says Martha.

Tulips join their spring garden companions in a display by Tineke Geerlings, a Dutch floral arranger. ‘Cairo,’ ‘Apricot Parrot,’ ‘Princess Unique,’ ‘Sensual Touch,’ ‘Teletubbie,’ viburnum, apple blossoms, hosta leaves, and hellebores fill a vase by designer Hella Jongerius.

The long-awaited drama of a cluster of hyacinths and daffodils pushing up from the earth doesn't quite carry over to a few paltry blooms in a vase. Imitate this spring ritual by rearranging several bouquets of same-color blossoms in clay and terra-cotta pots and urns.

How to Fake Planted Bulbs
Fill a waterproof vessel halfway with water and place it inside a slightly larger clay or terra-cotta pot or urn. Add flowers to the vessel, using a floral frog or a grid of floral tape to hold them in place.