Whether you’re celebrating, redecorating, or simply bringing the outdoors indoors, there’s always a good reason for having beautiful cut flowers. Use our inspiring, step-bystep ideas for guidance and take note of the care tips given, to add a cheery touch of colour in your home and keep arrangements in tip-top condition.

Spring: hyacinths

Celebrate the onset of spring with sweetly scented hyacinths. Their scent actually calms and relaxes, so you get a natural high when you inhale the fresh fragrance.

Hyacinths come in a huge variety of colours, from palest pastels through yellow to winepurple, matching any style – traditional or modern. To arrange in a vase, simply wash the bulb without cutting it and place it in water with some flower food.

You can use accessories in your arrangements too. A sisal frame (available from a craft shop or florist) sets off the pastel shades of spring flowers. Simply thread mixed colours of hyacinths through the frame and add pink blossom, fluffy fern leaves and fronds of grass.

Lime green looks beautiful teamed with pastel hyacinths. Try mixing pink, lilac and blue hyacinths with alliums and lime guelder rose, gomphocarpus (sometimes known as Moby Dick) and hypericum. Pretty pastel ribbons make this into a lovely gift, or will just add extra spring cheer.

For something a bit different – to take to a fundraising coffee morning, perhaps – try making a cake plate arrangement using hyacinths:

• Fill a round plastic dish with a circle of soaked florists’ foam.
• Using double-sided sticky tape, stick aspidistra leaves (the stalks cut off) to the dish. Secure with beaded wire.
• Cut different-coloured hyacinths short, and push into the foam, so the flowerheads just rest above the lip of the dish. You might need to make a starter hole with a small stick first.
• Present on a decorative cake plate, and wait for the compliments.

Tip: If you’d like to add contrast, try mixing with another spring flower or foliage, such as pussy willow. The soft, silvery catkins look especially effective against deep blue hyacinths.

Summer: hydrangeas

Hydrangeas really sum up the cottage garden country style. They come in either single or two-tone colourings and with their mopheads, you only need a few stems to fill a vase. The twotone colours look fantastic in the late summer months, with their burnished reds and greens.

Cutting hydrangeas so the stems are short looks trendy and actually helps the flowers last longer. You can make really simple but effective displays by placing a single hydrangea flower in different containers. Use teacups, sugar bowls or sundae dishes, for example, and display them all together on a tray.

If you are looking for a modern table setting to grace a special occasion, match the hydrangea to the colour of the crockery and vases. White can look very effective: simply place a bunch in your chosen container, then put a single flower on each plate tied round with complementary trailing ribbons.

For a summery centrepiece, follow these steps to create a stylish, colourful display:

• Soak a ball of florists’ foam in a sink full of water.
• Place the ball in a colourful bowl.
• Cut bright one-tone and classic two-tone hydrangeas so there is only 2in of stem left and push them in so you cover the ball.
• Fill any gaps with groups of green carnations, hypericum and orange kniphofia.

Autumn: chrysanthemums

Everything has a fashion revival, whether it’s 1950s chintz, 1960s miniskirts and flares or 1980s batwings. The same goes with flowers – chrysanthemums have recently been featured at London Fashion Week, with top London designers creating flower costumes featuring a variety of chrysanthemums.

The secret to fashion revival is to do it differently, or with a modern twist – so either team chrysanthemums with more unusual flowers, or look out for big, blowsy blooms or new colours such as green and brown.

Chrysanthemums are really easy to care for: all you need to do is re-cut each stem on a slant and place them in water. Make sure you remove any leaves that will fall below the water level first, though.

Autumnal arrangements lend themselves to shades of rust and orange, but you can create contrast to a bunch of deep russet blooms by adding taller, brightercoloured flowers such as snapdragons, to help to lift the display.

Look out for two-tone chrysanthemums, which almost resemble starry dahlias and can be displayed with orange autumnal flowers: snapdragons, gladioli and asclepias. Try placing pieces of wood on a shallow dish or plate and bind them together with wire. Use the wire to support the flowers and hold them in an upright position, so their full beautiful height is eff ectively displayed.

If friends are coming round for lunch, try this funky arrangement to enjoy while you’re eating. Cut the tops off some red peppers and place the bases in glasses. Fill them with chrysanthemum flowers, then place the tops of the peppers on the flowers… So simple, so fast, so eff ective… and bound to be a talking point.

Ringing the tones of harvest Wreaths are a lovely arrangement for harvest-time, as the circular shape symbolises the cycle of the seasons. To create a seasonal wreath arrangement in autumnal tones, follow these four easy steps:

• Soak a ring of florists’ foam face down in a sink full of water.
• Take a selection of chrysanthemums in shades of copper, gold and orange, cut the stems short and push groups of flowers into the foam.
• Fill in the gaps with setaria grass and rudbeckia cones.
• Tuck in skeleton leaves to represent falling leaves of autumn. Tip: They are very thirsty flowers, so make sure they are in deep water and always cut them on a slant with secateurs. Hydrangeas also like being sprayed with a mister to keep them looking perky. Tip: Put some water in the bottom of the container so the flowers stay fresh.

Winter: amaryllis 

This flower is truly the diva of the season, and luckily it is available until April, so you can enjoy it for longer. For the most festive look stick to red and white, but look out for orange, salmon, pink and bi-coloured varieties as spring approaches. Some varieties have thin, tapered petals, which bring a more ‘airy’ look to an arrangement.

Buy amaryllis in bud and ensure they’re well-wrapped for the journey; then once home, place them on a chopping board and cut the stems with a sharp knife. Amaryllis look particularly eff ective cut short, especially when mixed with other colours. Repetition reinforces the overall eff ect, so you can line up three similar pots for a cuttingedge design.

For Christmas, arrange deep red amaryllis with red bouvardia together, and festoon with red and gold cord for gorgeous festive sparkle.

As winter moves into February and Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, you’ll be thinking about romance and, of course, red roses. So why not make an amaryllis ‘tree’ – a popular arrangement style with top florists. Group three red roses together, follow with six white veronica, then finish with red and white amaryllis. Tie some brightly coloured cord around the stems, and stand back to admire!

Once you’ve perfected your amaryllis tree, you can move on to trying a bigger version:

• Take five or six dark pink amaryllis and tie together under the flower heads.
• Tie a ring of green hydrangeas slightly lower down, creating a layered eff ect. Tie again under the neck of these fl owers. Looking for more ideas? For hundreds of fast, simple ideas, that require no special skills or equipment, visit www.tryflowers.org.uk . Or, if you’re a seasoned flowerarranger and would like extra inspiration, or to discover the most fashionable ways to use flowers for the current season, log on to www.flowers.org.uk
• Finish with a ring of red amaryllis and tie again.
• Display in a toning vase: colours such as lime green pick out the colour of the hydrangeas.

Tip: If you don’t want them to fray in the vase, secure the end of each stem with sticky tape. They should last for weeks.