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Creating An Arrangement with Sunflowers 

There’s nothing like a bouquet of fresh, bright sunflowers to liven up a room and fill your spirit with cheer. These large, sunny blooms look great anywhere and are perfect for adding a vibrant pop of color to an arrangement of other flowers or striking when displayed on their own. Keep reading for tips on creating beautiful floral designs with the magnificent sunflower from Cascade Floral Wholesale

Sunflower with leaves isolated on white background.Sunflower Types

The large, bright yellow sunflower with a significant round center of brown is typically what most people call to mind when they think of a sunflower. However, there are actually over 70 species and hundred varieties of the sunflower (genus Helianthus). The sunflower genus is commonly broken down into three main groups, tall sunflowers, dwarf sunflowers, and colored sunflowers. 

Tall sunflowers are the ones you usually see in the fields where their large golden faces follow the path of the sun as it travels across the sky. With tall, sturdy stalks, these beauties can reach nearly 16 feet tall in their quest to reach the sun. 

Dwarf sunflowers are a result of hybridizing the bloom into a type that grows to three feet or smaller. These blooms grow in bunches and are great for filling in small spaces in gardens or floral arrangements. 

Colored sunflowers are also a result of hybridizing and have given us a beautiful array of sunflowers in pinks, oranges, burgundy, red, and mixed colors. 

Single-stem sunflowers are by far the most popular as they are easier for farmers to harvest, but they can also be found in branch varieties where multiple blooms are produced on a single stem.

Sunflower natural background. Sunflower blooming. Close-up of sunflower.
Design Aesthetics of Sunflowers

Due to this bloom’s large face with long petals and prominent center, its simple symmetry is one of its most striking features. Upon closer inspection, though, the rotund central bloom reveals hundreds of tiny flowers arranged in an intricate radiating design that draws in the eye. This feature is great for adding texture, movement, and pattern to floral arrangements. 

Flowers to Pair with Sunflowers

Sunflowers bring a lot of charm and happy vibes to arrangements due to their bright color, dramatic size, and interesting natural pattern. Floral designers often use them to add a color contrast or color transition to a bouquet as well as texture or size variant. Roses pair well with sunflowers as they are both showy blooms, and the rose offers a nice pattern variation when viewed beside the sunflower. Blooms that resemble a sunflower, such as daisies, work great to amplify and bring attention to its beautiful shape as well as provide volume. Asters and mums are excellent supporting flowers for the sunflower.

Still life with autumn flowers, sunflowers and roses, apples, rowan and gourd on artistic background

Sunflower Arranging Tips

Sunflower stems are very thirsty, so if you’re not designing with them right away, be sure to place them in water. When you are ready to begin making your bouquet, snip the stem to your desired length by making a 45-degree angled cut. If you are creating a mixed floral arrangement, add the sunflowers last. Since you’re working with fresh stems, they are not yet going to be in full bloom. Adding them into the arrangement last allows you to choose an area where they will have plenty of room to blossom. Remember, by nature, sunflowers are focal flowers, not supporting flowers, so place them accordingly for balance and interest. 

Sunflowers in a vase on a rustic, blue background

If you are arranging a bouquet of all, or mostly all, sunflowers, you need not worry much about placement. Just give each stem a fresh cut and put them into a vase. Next, take a look at the arrangement and adjust stem size, filler flowers, and/or greenery to ensure the sunflowers look tall and proud rather than flat. 

When done, place your lovely arrangement of sunflowers on your kitchen table or anywhere that needs a boost of cheeriness, then make another one for a friend. Get creative! There are all sorts of different arrangements, flower pairings, and colorful vase choices you can play with. Sunflowers are super easy to work with and always look great. 

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