Garden-style arrangements aim to look like a handful of flowers just gathered from the garden: lush, textured, and a little wild. This is the opposite of formal, symmetrical floristry. It is the style most suited to home-grown flowers.
Vary the heights—some stems should extend above the rest and others should nestle lower. Mix flower forms: round (dahlias, zinnias), spiky (snapdragons, larkspur), airy (cosmos, scabiosa), and textural (celosia, grasses). Use odd numbers of each flower type. Let some stems arc outward rather than pointing straight up.
Start with a low collar of foliage like eucalyptus or dusty miller. Add your largest focal flowers off-center. Build out with medium flowers, then tuck in fillers and foliage. The last elements added should be the airiest—grasses, nigella, and anything that catches light and creates movement.
In spring, lean on ranunculus, sweet peas, and ferns. In summer, dahlias, zinnias, and basil. In fall, celosia, amaranth, and rudbeckia. See our spring, summer, and fall arrangement guides for specific combinations.
For more on garden-style arranging, Floret Flowers offers extensive resources on this approach to flower design.