Tulips are so easy to arrange! Learn my best tips and tricks for creating easy, beautiful, and long-lasting tulip flower arrangements.
Course Flower Arranging
Cuisine American
Keyword flower arranging, flowers, tulips
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 7 minutesminutes
Total Time 12 minutesminutes
Servings 1arrangement
Equipment
1 flower vase
1 pair of scissors
fresh water
Ingredients
1bunchtulips
Instructions
Start by removing your tulips from their packaging. Discard and recycle any paper or plastic.
Fill a clean vase about 1/3 full with room temperature water. Tulips tend to do best in shallow water.
Next, you’ll want to remove some of the leaves from your stems. Personally, I only like to leave about 2 leaves (or sometimes even just one) on a stem, but you can do what you like. With that being said, one thing you want to avoid is having any leaves in the water. (This goes with any flower.) Leaves in water tend to rot which will significantly decrease the life of your arrangement and leave your water looking cloudy and smelling unpleasant.
Using a pair of sharp scissors, cut off at least 1 inch of the tulip stem and then place it directly into the water. Cut each tulip stem and place it into the water as soon as you cut it. Generally speaking, I like to see the stem length about 1.75 times the height of the vase. This means that the length of the stem/flower sticking out of the vase should be about 3/4ths as tall as the vase.
When placing the stems into the vase, I like to move around the vase rather than concentrating on one area at a time. I think this helps to create a fuller-looking arrangement. Plus, when you work this way, the stems almost create an interlocking grid helping to hold each other up.
Finally, refresh your tulips at least every other day if not daily. This means recutting the stems and changing the water.
Notes
Tulips don’t need the small packet of flower food that’s often provided with grocery store flowers. Save this for some other blooms. Tulips will adjust and move in your vase. They almost arrange themselves as they settle in. They will also open towards the light. I recommend just letting them do their thing. They are beautiful at every stage of their life, even as they start to drop leaves. If you’re not sure how long your stem should be, always go a little longer. You can always cut more off later if necessary. If your vase feels a bit crowded, you can remove additional leaves.