How to make cheap flowers look expensive
As party tricks go, it may not pull in the laughs on a night out – but my skill for making cheap flowers look better than they do in the shop is a trick I use quite a bit. It’s especially handy at this time of year, when we don’t really want to spend masses of money, but we do need a bit of spring joy around the home.
A bit like finding a great jumper in M&S and making it look like it came from Céline, I love a floral bargain. Roses from the Co-op are among my favourites; I find it thrilling when they end up looking really expensive, and they give an instant uplift in a hallway or on a bedside table.
I think it’s a skill honed after years of working on fashion magazines, where budgets were low and expectations high. Ex-fashion editor and now ceramicist Deborah Brett (her floral and table-setting skills are often on display in Fortnum & Mason, where her ceramics are sold) agrees: “You don’t have to spend a fortune,” she says. “If you just stick to some basic rules, even supermarket flowers can look impressive.”
“Stick to one variety and keep it tonal,” she continues. “Creams and whites look more expensive than a mix of different colours.” Fashion people love sticking to single varieties and one colour. Tom Ford famously only likes to send white peonies, Riccardo Tisci only sends white roses, and Miuccia Prada likes pink.
It’s a look also favoured by fashion’s favourite florist, Flowerbx.com, founded by Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, who incidentally used to work for Tom Ford. Her company is now known for its beautiful single-variety bunches of everything from parrot tulips to peonies – it’s a bit like the Net-a-Porter of flowers, often with the high price tags to match.
When it comes to styling bargain blooms, another trick is to mix in some lovely foliage – either from your garden, if you have one, or from a florist. I often end up going to my lovely local florist, The Real Flower Company, and splurging on some beautiful greenery or just one stem of something fabulous to zhuzh up my cheap flowers. At this time of year, there are some unusual, delicate versions of eucalyptus around, which look fabulous with roses, and even just one sprig of mimosa can liven up a downstairs loo or a side table (and it smells wonderful too).
Stylist Fiona Rubie is also a fan of foliage. “My mum taught me it was always about the flowers, but filling a large vase or pot with masses of foliage from the garden and then adding in even just a few roses can look stunning,” she says. Her other trick is to have on standby a selection of some realistic-looking fake foliage. “Oka does some brilliant artificial greenery, which can really up the ante of mediocre roses and make them look more natural, as if they’ve come from the countryside; it even elevates a bunch of white or pink lilies,” she says.
Stylist Willow Crossley is the queen of beautiful, natural floral displays and I’ve picked up many tips from her weekly Instagram videos filmed at her Cotswolds home, where she effortlessly finesses anything from a single tulip to more exotic wraps of jewel-coloured Icelandic poppies into works of floral art.
“The tulip trick,” she tells me, “is one of the most popular videos I’ve ever done on Instagram and can transform bland tulips into something much more joyful and interesting. The trick is to take any tulip and carefully peel back the outer petals very gently, one by one. The flower opens up and will continue to grow in its glamorous new shape.”
Willow also advises to focus on what is seasonal. “Amaryllis are a real bargain at this time of year. Most people think of them as just Christmassy flowers, but the stripy pink ones are among my favourites for early spring, and the bulbs will go on for another couple of months and bring a real burst of colour inside. Also, little pots of pansies and violas decanted into china bowls are great for dotting around the house and are an inexpensive way of bringing a bit of spring joy and colour inside.”
Mini bulbs, such as dwarf iris or muscari, placed in china bowls and covered with some moss from your local florist are another of Willow’s favourites. “B&Q does very good-quality bulbs which last well,” she says, “but if you’ve got snowdrops in the garden, even better. Just dig some up, pot them in a small bowl, and then replant back in the garden afterwards.” A bowl of snowdrops on the kitchen table, which can be replanted in the garden: does it get more chic? I think I’ve found a new party trick.
Seven ways to make supermarket flowers look chic
Stick to one colour and one variety
A jug of paperwhites at this time of year can look stunning and also adds a lovely fragrance. Supermarket or stall-bought roses can look lovely cut down and placed in a low bowl in a bedroom. It feels so luxurious seeing them on a dressing table.
Use clever gadgets to hold flower stems in place
If you’re using a pot with a wide diameter, use some chicken wire or a flower frog in the base to help create an airy-looking natural arrangement. I’ve found a brilliant gadget called the Perfect Arranger (￡25 from realflowers.co.uk), made from stainless steel, which you place in the bottom of your pot to hold the flower stems in place. Unlike chicken wire, it doesn’t rust, so it will keep the water cleaner and you don’t need to tape it to the pot. I love it for tulips as you can use it to make the flowers drape down over the sides of a wide bowl, which looks more interesting than having them all standing upright in a vase.
Use foliage to zhuzh up cheaper flowers
Forage from your garden or when you’re going for a walk, or invest in some lovely foliage from your local florist to zhuzh up cheaper flowers – Oka does realistic artificial greenery, which is undetectable when mixed with real flowers.
Fill some bowls with mini bulbs such as muscari, crocus and hyacinths and dot them around the house
Crossley uses china teacups or sugar bowls, and there is a good selection of all sorts of lovely bowls on her website, willowcrossley.com. Top with some moss and remember to water when the moss feels dry.
Peeling back the outer edges of tulips or roses can make a cheaper flower look much more interesting
The technique is called “reflexing” and can transform a boring supermarket tulip into one resembling an expensive parrot tulip. Hold the petal very carefully at the base and gently bend it back until you hear a little click.
A cluster of mini bud vases can look impactful on a table or a mantelpiece
Groups of odd numbers always look better, and mix up the heights of the flowers. Try Summerill & Bishop (summerillandbishop.com) for a great selection of tiny vases from ￡10.
Remember to change the water
Ideally refresh water every day, especially with roses, and trim flower stems by just a centimetre daily. Your flowers will last longer this way. Similarly, strip any leaves off the part of the stem that’s in the water, otherwise they will rot, and run vases through the dishwasher after use, as washing-up liquid can leave a film on the vase which lots of flowers don’t like.