Question
My church is going to redo our pulpit area and I want to do an arrangement in an urn.  I have purchased the urn.  I'm not sure how to make the flowers stand up.  I have glads and football mums and hydrangdas.  Can you help me or recommend a book to get on arrangments.  We also purchase a clear pulpit and I want to put a verticle arrangments in it.  I have all the flowers already.

Help please.

Answer
Hi Cynthia.  If the urns are opaque, I recommend you use some floral foam to keep the flowers standing where you want them.  Use at least several inches of it at the bottom, and you should have no problems.

If the urns are clear, there are a couple things you could try.  The most popular is to use marbles at the bottom.  Then push the stems into the marbles to help hold their place.

Second, you could get some floral tape (it's thick, waterproof green tape), and make a criss-cross design across the mouth of the urn.  Then stick stems through the little holes that are made.

Other people use a piece of chicken wire across the top of the vase.  Be sure to use plenty of greenery to cover the wiring if you go this route.

If you don't want to buy any of this, add a lot of greenery to the urn first.  I recommend plumosa, also called asparagus fern.  It's nice and fluffy and will help the flowers stand still.