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At one point or another, fresh flowers will find their way into your home, whether they’re the result of a grocery store impulse purchase or a gift from a thoughtful visitor (when the time for that comes again). Sure, you can throw a flower arrangement in a mason jar or a random pitcher, but having a few vases on hand elevates the simple luxury of keeping fresh flowers in your kitchen or on your dining room table.
But flower vases aren’t a one-size-fits-all deal: The best vase depends on the types of flowers and arrangements you’re working with. I consulted some experts in the matter, Taylor Patterson of Fox Fodder Farms and Bia Yapp of Bia Blooms, who offered the flower arranging and displaying guidance below.
Urn-Shaped Vases
Shape: Wider body with a slightly smaller opening
Perfect for: All-purpose but ideal for grocery store bouquets.
For that standard-issue spray of flowers that you might grab while shopping or that a friend might drop off as a gift, Patterson says that a nice urn-shaped vase with a wider base and narrower opening at the top will do the trick: “You can just plop them in and you don’t have to fuss with them too much.” This is ideal when you’ve received flowers as a host gift, but you’re trying to get dinner for your guests on the table and don’t really have time to artfully arrange the bouquet.
GODTAGBAR Vase
$10 AT IKEA
Morandi Modern Ceramic Vase
$64 AT ETSY
HAY Splash Vase - Round
$85 AT HAY
Narrow mouthed vases
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Shape: medium-size vase that tapers off to a small opening
Perfect for: Single stem large blooms and sparse farmers market bouquets.
While narrow-mouthed vases can sometimes restrain multistemmed flower arrangements, they are quite well-suited for a single stem with a large bloom, like sunflowers or chrysanthemums. “They’re great for top-heavy blooms that have some drama, like smoke bush,” Yapp says.
A more sparse assemblage of farmers market flowers goes well in a vase with a slender profile, which will help the flower arrangement seem full even if it contains only a few stems. “A vase that is taller than it is wide is more useful for your average person who doesn’t want to spend a gazillion dollars on flowers,” Patterson notes. Opt for vases with slim and narrow spouts.
Melanie Abrantes Hardwood Vase - Tall
$110 AT WEST ELM
SALONG Vase
$8 AT IKEA
Bud Vases
Shape: Small with little opening
Perfect for: individual flowers, wispy stemmed wildflowers
Just because flowers came together doesn’t mean you have to keep them together. “If you have a collection of bud vases of various sizes that you can divvy around your house, you can break a bouquet apart and add little accents all over,” Patterson adds.
Gary Bodker Hand-Blown Little Gem Bud Vases, Set of 3
$84 AT FOOD52
Small Cube Vase
$10 AT ABC CARPET & HOME
Bubble Glass Mid-Century Modern Vases
$31 AT ETSY
Tall Vases
Shape: Tall and narrow, around a foot in length or greater
Perfect for: That giant branch you couldn’t resist buying.
For those big bundles of forsythia or a branch of sculptural plum blossoms, Patterson suggests a tall glass vessel, around 18 inches, that can support the scale of the larger stems. You may also want to use a weighty vase, or something that can easily conceal rocks to keep the vase from tipping over.
Jamie Young 20" Vapor Large Vase
$188 AT ABC CARPET & HOME
HAY Bottoms Up Vase
$105 AT HAY
Compote bowls
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Shape: Wide bowl-shaped vase
Perfect for: Large quantities of flowers and gargantuan blooms.
To show off a large quantity of big blossoms, like dahlias, Yapp recommends compote bowls. “This shape really lets the flowers do their thing unobstructed,” she says. Arrangements like this will usually require chicken wire or other support, so it’s best to go with a vase you can’t see through.
Cova Planter
$60 AT FOOD52
Statement Vases
Shape: You name it
Perfect for: Those flowers that caught your eye from the side of the road
A really cool or interesting statement vase can be the difference between an okay flower arrangement and an amazing one. Patterson suggests that anyone who likes having fresh flowers around the house should invest in vases that make good decorations, with or without flowers in them. “If you have a really cool vase you literally go pick some weeds off the side of the road and it will look beautiful.” Here are some we love:
Middle Kingdom Porcelain Detergent Vase
$48 AT BAN.DO
MISCHELLE MOY, 2019 ©.
Double Fish Vase
$70 AT WING ON WO AND CO.
Geometric Acrylic Vase
$65 AT ETSY
Still, both experts agree that you shouldn’t get too bogged down with the rules of pairing the right vase with the right flower. “I started out buying flowers at my local grocery store and arranging the blooms in whatever I had lying around the house. The first vessel I used was a popcorn bowl,” Yapp recalls. She notes that you can get creative with any vessel you have, using chicken wire or even tape inside to secure your arrangements. Patterson agrees: “At the end of the day it’s all personal taste. There is no right or wrong way to arrange flowers. It’s very much an extension of yourself and whatever creative mindset you might have.”