Making a Colorful Mason Jar Floral Arrangement

I don't pretend to be the end-all or design guru of floral design. That being said, I've been able to learn how to design decently, and as a former beginner who made some HIDEOUS arrangements, I'd like to help you design better - starting with a mason jar.

Mastering the mason jar floral design is important, especially as a flower farmer - not only because it is a frequently requested and easily recognizable container by clients and customers, but it also is very economical and a very nice container for floral arranging.

Whether you’re making the arrangement for yourself, a friend, or for selling at a farmer’s market, a mason jar arrangement isn’t too complicated - but still allows you plenty of room for being creative with your design and style!

Note that you're going to be limited by the shape of the mason jar - it's either going to be roundy-moundy or it's going to be tall and leggy, there's very little in between. You're not going to be creating some lovely loose and natural compote here and that's okay - save that for another time!

I created this arrangement with a farmer's market or retail shop customer in mind - bright bold colors, a bit sparse on the material side but with enough mass and volume for the customer to feel like they're getting their money's worth - around $12-15.

In a nutshell, here's how we make a mason jar floral arrangement.

1. Start by placing your foliage, ensuring that you have clean stems in the water.

Starting off with my foliage - Cinnamon basil in this case. Note that the stems are cleaned of leaves so that the water will stay clean, as well as allowing for easier placement of materials.

Note that the cut end of the basil is resting against the glass of the mason jar. This helps to hold the stem in place because it is now touching in two places - the jar lid and the side of the jar.
The goal is to ensure that all your stems eventually are anchored into place - either by touching the container, or by being locked into place by other materials. More on that later.

2. Add your focal flower to create the front of your arrangement

Added our focal flower- in this case a large zinnia. Other good focal flowers include dahlias, sunflowers and large lisianthus
This focal flower is technically the "front" of the arrangement - although it will be viewed from all sides, we're arbitrarily choosing this as the front.

3. Add your secondary flowers

Adding the secondary flowers -smaller zinnias in this case. These help to compliment the focal flower, chosen in a similar color scheme and similar form.

4. Add a vertical or line element (if using)

Added in this gladiolus as a vertical or line element in the arrangement. It changes it from rounded and low to now a bit more tall and upright. Note how it also plays off the vertical shape of the basil flower spikes as well.
You don't technically have to add in any vertical or line element to your mason jar arrangements, but I find it helps to create the illusion that it is a bigger and more full arrangement than it actually is.

5. Add your filler flowers and material

Adding in some fillers - in this case, aromatic lovegrass (Eragrostis cilianensis) and a burgundy Mexican hat flower (Ratibida columnifera)

6. Add any additional filler or extras for interest and to bulk out the bouquet

And there we go. Again, it shouldn't take you too long to throw this together once you have your technique down. Feel free to add or take out or rearrange until you get it right - as long as it looks full and colorful, I think that's the most important quality to this style of arrangement.
I added some 'Aztec Sunset' zinnias to create a little bit more color and then also added a bit more lovegrass to bulk it out.
The great thing about arrangements made for retail is that you use what materials are available - in this case, I had an abundance of the orange gladiolas, hot colored zinnias, Mexican hats and lovegrass available, which creates this lovely end-of-summer arrangement that looks like it was picked right from the garden.

I'll admit again, that I'm not professing myself to be a fancy floral designer, but I can knock out this mason jar arrangement in a few minutes to create a consistent and excellent arrangement for our customers.

And there you go - a lovely, colorful, summery mason jar floral arrangement!

If you’ve enjoyed this little tutorial, you might enjoy some of these other tips for designing: