The sight of fresh flowers in a home brings life and vitality to any space.

Fresh flowers can be used in a myriad of creative ways to evoke different emotions and moods to suit the spaces they reside in. For the average bloom enthusiast, there are so many different options when it comes to using flowers to enhance your indoor spaces. Here are a few reasons that you should consider fresh cut flowers for your home.

Enhancing Your Homes Colour Pallet and Design Features

Fresh blooms are possibly the simplest way to add style, sophistication and elegance to any living space and they give you the opportunity to pull together your personal style, your homes key features and colours as well provide a sense of luxury.

From a simple rectangular glass vase of long-stemmed Calla Lilies through to a sprawling display of Oriental Lilies, fresh cut flowers will draw attention and create a dramatic focal point in any room.

Fresh cut flowers also allow you to play with contrast and sculpture to accentuate key design elements such as patterned or textured feature walls and natural tones in your floors and wall coverings.

In Australia, we have year-round access to some amazing species of flowers. In addition to this the varied growing climates in Australia also give us extended access to many species that are seasonal such as Tulips and Daffodils.

Remember though, your flowers should also tie into your homes décor, not compete with it so select cut flowers that compliment colour pallets in a way that is soothing to the eye.

Lift Your Spirits and Promote a Calm and Relaxing Interior Space

Many scientific studies have made a very strong correlation between the presence of flowers and overall mood and feeling of wellbeing, and this is not a new concept. People have been decorating spaces with flowers for hundreds of years.

Various studies have concluded that the presence of flowers can have a strong affect on those inhabiting a space. These positive effects range from boost in general mood, reports of increased levels of happiness as well as a reduction in stress and anxiety.

One reason for this is our capacity to be affected by our senses and memories. Sight and smell are two very powerful influencers when it comes to our moods. In addition to this, our minds ability to associate physical things with memories is very impactful. It is easy to understand that when flowers are present at special events such as weddings and other celebrations, the presence of them in our home can help bring back the joyful feelings that were experience during these special times.

Welcoming Guests and Visitors to Your Home

Flowers are often associated with showing thankfulness. What better way to thank someone for visiting you than a gorgeous display of fresh cut flowers for them to admire. These small details show your guests that their presence in your home is special for you, and that you have made the effort to ensure that their time with you is filled with beauty.

Also, making the effort to ensure that your dining table is beautifully decorated with some fresh cut flowers tells your dinner guests that you have gone to special effort in preparation for a wonderful evening of friendship, fun and laughter. 

It is often the small details that people notice and leave the longest lasting impression.

So, now you are convinced, you might be wondering, “What are the best cut flowers for my home?”

The answer to that question is highly dependant on a number of factors including your personal tastes and design aesthetic, the time of year and seasonality of available produce, the specific space in your home that you are going to be enhancing and the amount of time you have to care for your blooms. Each of these 4 things should be considered to ensure that you get the most out of your investment into these short-term decorative enrichments. 

Calla Lilies

Calla Lilies or Arum Lilies are the perfect option when it comes to creating a simple arrangement that brings height and drama to an area of your home. Calla Lilies are tall, tuberous flower with a uniform funnel shaped blooms and come in a variety of colours.

Advice from Kate

Calla Lilies are Great for dining table centre pieces and homes with high ceilings as they are naturally quite a tall and striking flower. Depending on your state, Calla Lilies are available almost all year round and the variety of colours that we have access to in Australia means that they are almost always the perfect choice to accentuate a wide range of interior colour pallets.

Calla Lilies however can be temperamental if a few simple steps are not followed so pay attention to how you prepare and care for your Calla Lilies to ensure that you get maximum longevity out of these beautiful cut flowers.

When cutting Calla Lilies, always make sure to do so while their stems are submerged in lukewarm water. Calla Lilies also benefit from the addition of cut flower food to their vase. If you are careful and conditions are right, Calla Lilies can last up to 14 days, so they are a great option for those of us who are wanting to get the most out of our investment into cut flowers for our home.

Tulips

Perhaps there is no other flower that is more symbolic of the dawning of spring than the Tulip. Grown for centuries for its performance as a cut stem, the tulip is now one of the most popular and most identifiable flowers in the word.

Advice from Kate

Tulips add a sense of style and luxury to any interior space and their modest size means that they lend themselves to smaller arrangements. Many of our clients choose a few different colour variations with the intention create three or four different smaller arrangements to be placed around their homes. This approach to enhancing your living spaces with cut flowers adds an element of continuity to your homes floral accents and can help extend the beauty throughout your home rather than investing in one main centrepiece. 

Tulips are available almost all year round, however late winter and throughout spring is when stock is at its best. Whilst Tulips can tolerate some warmer conditions, they do not hold up well in extreme heat, so think about the time of year and the climate of your home before choosing tulips as your cut flower of choice.

Caring for tulips, however, is easier than some other cut flowers. Whilst they do benefit from the addition of a small amount of cut flower food in their water, this isn’t necessary. With proper care, tulips purchased with tight blooms can last up to 10 days in the right climate.

Natives

An often-overlooked option is that of native flowers. Australia has some of the most diverse species of flora anywhere in the world and they have all evolved to stand up to our sometimes-harsh weather conditions. Australian Natives have some of the most unique sculptural structures and intense colours of any flower and also have the added bonus of a very long life as a cut flower.

Advice from Kate

Australian native cut flowers come in many different varieties, colours, shapes and sizes however the majority of them are incredibly long lasting which makes them a great investment as a cut flower to improve the aesthetics of your living spaces. From gorgeous Waratahs through to, Banksia’s, Bottlebrushes and Native Irises the choices are almost endless. Australian Natives are also an excellent choice for beginners as they are very hardy and can stand up to a mistake or two when it comes to their care.

Australian native cut flowers are available in abundance all year round and require very little when it comes to proper care. In the right condition, an arrangement can last up to a month which almost no other cut flower option can compete with.

Orchids

Orchids are one of the most ancient and most intriguing species of flowers in the world. Whilst orchids can be found as cut stems, they can also be commonly found as living plants which again makes them ideal for floral enthusiasts who are wanting the beauty of flowers in their living spaces all year round.

Advice from Kate

Orchids come in so many different shapes, styles, colours and variations which makes different species of orchids ideal for many different areas of your home. Larger bloomed varieties make amazing focal pieces on side tables and bookshelves where some of the smaller, more dainty species and an amazing sense of serenity to bathrooms and kitchens.

Note that the orchid species can be a little difficult to care for and they have very specific requirements around both climate and humidity, so orchids are best for those of us with a little more experience in caring for indoor flowers and plants. That being said, everyone is a beginner at some point so don’t be afraid to add an orchid to your indoor flower displays.

Final Thoughts

So many people are beginning to understand the benefit and beauty that cut flowers can bring to an interior living space. In Australia we are very fortunate to have access to some of the world’s most amazing species of flowers almost all year round. For those of you who are wanting to experiment with fresh cut flowers as a design element in your home, feel free to reach out to our experts to discuss your needs. We are passionate about bringing beauty to interior spaces through the use of floral artistry and we would love the opportunity to help you do just that.

Top Image Credit: James Greer