How to Arrange a Dozen Roses in a Vase

Co-authored by Denise Porcaro Tupper

Last Updated: January 31, 2023 References

You do not need to buy expensive roses from a specialized florist to enjoy a beautifully designed vase of fresh roses. You can easily arrange a dozen roses yourself by buying them at the supermarket and taking the time to arrange them yourself at home.

Steps

1
Fill your vase 3/4 full with tepid water. To improve the longevity of the roses, mix an additive for cut flowers into the water. The warmer the water, the faster the roses will open.^{[1]
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Research source} Colored roses open much faster than red roses, which have been treated to open more slowly.
2
Arrange the greens by holding your one tall green in middle of your hand and work around the edges building a hand held look with your greens. Trim off bottom of greens and place in vase. The greens should be resting on edge of vase with a secure feeling. If the greens are loose, your arrangement will not work. If you need to add a few more pieces of green to this mixture to fill in, do so now. This should take about a half bunch of leather-leaf fern for an arrangement of a dozen roses.^{[2]
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3
Pick your tallest, straightest, tightest closed rose for your first placement. It should be 1 to 1 1/2 times again as tall as your vase. This will set the height and width of your arrangement, so keep that in mind. Submerge the stem in tepid water and then snip the stem at an angle, to bring the rose to the perfect height. Place it in the center hole of your grid.^{[3]
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- Roses have hard stems, so you will need a good pair of shears or clippers to cut them. Kitchen scissors are not a good option!
- Cutting at an angle creates a larger surface area for the flower to drink water.
4
Select your next 5 roses based on tightness of head, height, and straightness of stem. Remove any large thorns before inserting roses into greens. Hold the roses up to the vase until the top of the heads of these 5 roses reach the bottom of the head of the first rose you placed in the vase. Snip all 5 the same length, at an angle, where they will be high enough to stand at the measured height. Place them in aiming towards the center rose making sure they are an equal space apart.^{[4]
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5
Measure the six remaining roses to be about 4 to 6 inches (10.2 to 15.2 cm) shorter than your tallest rose. The roses will land the same distance from the bottom of the top rose and the top of the vase. Cut all the same length at an angle.^{[5]
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6
Fill between the five roses aiming towards the bottom of the vase, so roses will be seen from every angle around the vase, once the arrangement is complete. Each rose may not stay in the exact place you want it at this point; that, too, is okay.^{[6]
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7
Pick the prettiest, fullest, most open rose to be the center of the front of your arrangement. Even though it will be arranged "all around", you will have a front. You can even snip this rose a little shorter and put it back in, if you wish, as it will be your focal point, and should be the lowest rose toward the vase.
8
Fill in the holes with the filler flowers. Divide your filler and make sure you fill in all around the vase pretty much equally. You do not want filler in every spot; this will make it too round and full. You will want air space there and the color is evenly distributed. Pay extra attention to your focal flower that you placed lower in the front. The filler flower will frame and accentuate your other flowers, and should always be lower and deeper in your arrangement than your main flower, the rose.^{[7]
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9
Move away from the arrangement and squint your eyes to make sure you do not see any "holes" that need a little color. Look at your arrangement from the level that it will be placed. If it is going on a 3' tall table, look at it from that view, you will see more of the top than the bottom, so your focus should be that way. If you will be seated around it, look at it from a seated position, from every angle, if it will be up high, make sure it looks good from the bottom.
10
Fill in with extra greenery to make sure no mechanics (tape, rose stems, etc.) are showing, making sure to leave airholes.
11
Enjoy your arrangement!

Community Q&A

Question

Is it true that cutting the thorns from rose stems can cause the rose to get a fungus and die quicker?

Community Answer

No, but it's best not to cut it, just in case it dies of something else. And by the way, thorns are there for a reason.
Question

Can I do this with just baby's breath?

Community Answer

No, because baby's breath is just a filler flower. You can add baby's breath to the arrangement instead.
Question

Step 3 says the first/center rose should be 1 to 1-1/2 times again the height of the vase. The photo illustration seems to show it only about half again the height of the vase. Can you clarify?

Community Answer

If the vase is 10 inches tall, the tallest rose would be 15 inches tall (10 plus 10X.5), maximum. A 12-inch vase would be 18 inches max (12 plus 12X.5). But it doesn't have to be so precise - you just want the inner roses to be taller so that they show from behind the ones in the front.

Warnings

Be careful not to get bleach on clothing.

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Some flowers and plants/greenery are poisonous, so be careful around pets and children.

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Watch out for the thorns on the stems of the roses!

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For longer flower life, do not place your arrangement on top of the TV, a warm location, where sunlight will be on it for several hours during the day, or directly in front of a fan, heater, or air-conditioner.

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Things You'll Need

Medium-sized clear or colored vase, preferably at least 10 to 14 inches (25.4 to 35.6 cm) tall
Thin clear tape (optional)
Dozen roses, longest stems available
Bunch of smaller flowers such as babies breath (gypsophila), rice flower, statice, goldenrod, etc., anything with tiny flowers or clusters to use as filler to fill in the space between the roses and the greenery. The more unique and colorful, the better
A bunch of greenery, leather leaf fern is the florist's staple, but it is much more "High-style" if you just cut some shrubbery from your yard to fill in
A flexible greenery stem that can bend down around the bottom of the vase, and a longer/firmer bush to stand between the roses. If you use fresh greenery out of your yard, soak it in a sink full of cold water while you prepare the other flowers