When I was little, my mom worked as a freelance wedding florist. Watching her pull together colors and textures to create stunning bouquets and arrangements was like watching a true artist at work. So many memories of early, early mornings at the flower mart and late, late nights arranging, left quite the impression on my young mind.

As an adult, I have learned that there is nothing like the joy of coming home after a long day at work to a house filled with flowers. I am obsessed with the floral selection at Trader Joe’s. The overall variety, quality and price. It’s the next-best thing to the Downtown LA flower Mart.

I do the majority of our grocery shopping at TJ’s and I usually try and factor in at least $20 of our budget to spend on flowers. Some weeks I go with a single flower and make arrangements to place around the house, I have been loving their 20-stem tulip bunches for that. Other weeks, when I have the time/energy (taking care of a 6 month old is no joke) I try and get a little more creative and I grab a few different varieties.

I’ve learned to stick with a formula: greenery, a statement flower (think bigger or more fragrant blooms) and 1 -3 filler flowers. The fun part is that beyond that the combinations are endless and it’s a low- risk, high reward way to relax and let the creativity flow.

This week I chose hot pink peonies for my statement flower, white tulips for my filler and the freshest greenery I could find.

Peonies are easily my favorite flower. Their vibrancy and large blooms are so eye-catching. You could easily buy a bunch or two and display them without any other flower. But I felt like mixing in some tulips for contrast in color and shape.

Having my little guy means that I have to work around his nap times, so in order to keep the flowers fresh I prep them the moment I get home by trimming the ends and placing them in cold water with flower food. When it comes time to build an arrangement, I trim the stems to the length I want, strip most, if not all of the leaves (leaves under water quickly leads to an increase in bacteria and shortens the life of your arrangement) and fill my vase of choice with cold water and more floral food.

My mom taught me to place blooms in odd numbers. So after I create a structure using the greenery I alternate main blooms and filler flowers.

My favorite hack for deciding what length to cut the flowers to is lining up each bloom against the side of the table/counter top in front of the vase and once I’ve gauged my desired height I trim them to suit.

Peonies AND tulips can be somewhat delicate and the health of the blooms is very dependent on the environment. I refrain from placing my arrangements in direct sunlight or underneath a light fixture for an extended amount of time. A penny or two in the vase can help to keep tulips upright, and changing your water and placing your bouquet into the refrigerator at the end of the day can keep your blooms fresh for days.

Floral design is quickly becoming my favorite hobby, and I’m launching a weekly boutique bouquet service, so stay tuned for more tutorials, bouquets and details on how to order from me!