How to arrange flowers like a boss

I stay on my wife's good side with “just because” flowers. She knows how to arrange flowers, so it doesn't matter that I got a $4 bouquet from Walmart …

Every few weeks or so, I stop at Walmart to pick up some flowers to bring home. (This way I don't have to go overboard on anniversaries, Valentine's Day, etc. I've already scored some points.)

Some of you are thinking, “Awwww, you're a good hubby for doing that!”

And some of you might be thinking, “Dude … Walmart?!”

Well, the picture in this post shows a $3.97 bouquet of flowers from Walmart, beautifully arranged by my wife.

Walmart bouquets are very good for the price

Our Walmart sells green-, red-, and purple-wrapped bouquets for $3.97, $9.97, and $14.97, respectively. The higher-priced ones are usually bigger and have more exotic flowers in them. The flowers in the picture are three colors of carnations.

Almost all of the time, there are a few bouquets in the display that look decent. The particular flowers in the bouquets change from time to time, so it's a little bit of a surprise what will be there.

I don't always go for the $4 bouquets. It's more a function of what is there, what's pretty, and what's in good shape. Sometimes a $4 bouquet is the best-looking one there.

How to arrange flowers like a boss — even a $4 bouquet of flowers!

My wife took a course in flower arranging, so I have it easy; she's very happy to arrange them for me.

I asked her to explain how she does it. Here's what I learned about how to arrange flowers:

1. Choose a vase that gives some maneuvering room, but not too much. The vase doesn't have to be particularly fancy; it just has to not leak. Heck, a rinsed-out food container works. The mouth of the vase should allow some room to maneuver the flowers, but not so much room that they can move by themselves. It might be that you end up moving the flowers to a different vase due to the size of the mouth being off.
2. Don't use the freshness preserver. My wife is convinced that the flowers will last longer without dumping it in the water. There are ways to make cut flowers last longer but we haven't tried them.
3. Fill the vase most of the way up with cool tap water. Too full and the water will spill over when the flowers are put in the vase (darn you, Archimedes!) Also, doing this before putting the flowers in is more convenient than after.
4. Measure, roughly, the amount of stem to cut off. Put one of the flowers next to the vase to gauge how much to cut off. The stem should be close to, or at, the bottom of the vase with the flower a few inches or so above the mouth of the vase. (Or, just ignore this and do what looks good to you.)
5. Cut the stem to length at an angle. Cutting the stem at an angle (rather than straight) increases the open surface area and allows the water to flow in more easily.
6. Remove the leaves from the stem that will be submerged. This prevents those leaves from rotting and making things all stinky. Keep the leaves above the level of the water, as this makes the arrangement look fuller.
7. Put the flower in the vase. That's one.
8. Repeat Steps 4 to 7 with the rest of the flowers. Try to do different lengths for the stems, and move the flowers around in the vase until they look pretty. This is a matter of taste. There are a lot of good ways to arrange flowers. Getting a pre-made bouquet already has a good selection of flowers with good color combinations; this is the more involved part and it's already done for you.

What other tips do you have for arranging flowers? How do you make things special?