Choose flowers and arrange them the organic way

Create stunning, artistic, and Instagram-worthy blooms.

Like fashion, the world of flowers can be influenced by trends.

Perhaps my favorite trend in floral arrangements is the moving away from formal and structured to a more free-flowing and organic look. These creations embrace the “perfectly imperfect”—a favorite cottage motto of ours—and the naturally beautiful. In her new book, The Flower Fix: Modern Arrangements for a Daily Dose of Nature, flower stylist and author Anna Potter shares her philosophies (and instructions) on arranging flowers in the home, and it’s all about celebrating the wild side.

“For me, the ideal mind frame for creating an arrangement is finding a place somewhere between chaos and order, where the wild rules and the only thing for you to do is pick out the tones in a room, position a vase or imagine a narrative,” she writes.

LET LOOSE

For Anna, flower arranging isn’t about getting it just right; it’s about seeing what happens. “Allow yourself creative freedom with a loose, romantic design. Be reminded of the joy of unplanned situations and happy accidents that invite us to respond with creative license,” she says.

This relaxed approach also means you should consider everything nature provides, from branches to grasses and even plants we consider weeds. “Attempting to recreate inside what is naturally occurring outside gives me so much satisfaction—almost as much as using flowers and foliage deemed to be weeds. The term ‘weed’ implies something unwanted or in the wrong place; a plant that is invasive and grows unplanned,” she writes. “[But] in the last few years I’ve become besotted with roadside weeds, seas of grasses swaying like waves … The persistence and resilient strength of these unloved flowers inspires me deeply. [Arrangements can be about] bringing together a mass of wild, overgrown foliage, branches and blooms with their seasonal garden counterparts to create something of elegance.”