11 Low-Maintenance Plants That Are Great Filler In Flower Arrangements
If you are a fan of fresh flowers in the home, then you know that purchasing a new bouquet each week is quite costly. The good news is you don’t need to buy expensive flowers at a florist. In many cases, you can use the flowers you have in your garden to make a bouquet. If you don’t have flowers, you can just buy a few nice blooms and use some great filler plants to help beef up your arrangement without having to spend much money.
Some of the best filler plants you can grow in your yard and then add to your bouquets include baby’s breath, eucalyptus, and the silvery-white dusty miller. Some less-popular but equally fantastic and easy-to-grow plants to consider adding include bee balm, honeywort, and bells of Ireland. You can also use fresh herbs like purple basil, mint, and even rosemary to give your bouquet a lovely fragrance.
There are a lot of elements that go into a bouquet. Furthermore, not all the plants in a bouquet need to have colorful blossoms or even blossoms at all. You can make fantastic flower arrangements using resilient filler flowers. These often strong and long-lasting stalks add depth, texture, and sometimes even lovely smells to your already-dynamic arrangement. Keep reading to learn all the best filler plants you can grow in your yard and then add to a flower arrangement.
11 Low-Maintenance Plants That Are Great Fillers In Bouquets
1. Baby’s Breath
When it comes to filler flowers, the one that everyone knows is baby’s breath. This pillow-like white clustering flower plant is found in all sorts of bouquets. You can even fill a vase with just baby’s breath for a cloud-like and elegant look. Baby’s breath is cheap to buy, but even cheaper to grow.
This plant grows like a weed in the right conditions The key is having dry, well-draining soil. It doesn't like too much moisture. This makes it a perfect plant for dry climates and rock gardens. It looks great in your yard and can be trimmed to add some texture to any of your flower arrangements.
2. Bee Balm
Bee balm is a fantastic plant to add to flower arrangements. It has a lovely earthy aroma that adds a natural and pleasant scent to the home, which is great when other flowers in your bouquet don’t have a fragrance. Bee balm offers both purple and gray tones in addition to its green leaves.
You can easily grow it from seed, and it is also a hardy plant that holds up quite well for a week or longer once cut. This is particularly helpful for those looking for bouquets that last longer. Bee balm also produces a lot, so you can get a lot of use out of this plant throughout the spring and summer months.
3. Honeywort
If you are looking for a plant you can use in flower arrangements as soon as spring hits, look no further than honeywort. Honeywort starts blooming in early spring. It grows long stalks, and then it cascades dramatically at the end with purple, silver, and blue flowers.
It offers great bursts of color and is a very hardy and easy-to-grow plant. Bees love this plant as well, which is great for those looking to add to a pollinator garden. Best of all, this plant is very hearty, and can even withstand a spring frost or two.
4. Dusty Miller
Dusty Miller is another plant that is commonly found in professional flower arrangements. This is due to its resilience and its color. The dusty miller gets its name from its silver tones and white dusting on the leaves. This color helps give a lovely lace-like elegance to any bouquet and offers a nice juxtaposition to the typical green hues found in most filler flowers.
Dusty miller is a resilient plant, and the more you pick its leaves, the more vigorously it grows back. This makes it an ideal plant to use as filler in your bouquets.
5. Mint
If you have an herb garden growing in your yard, you will be happy to know there are several herbs you can incorporate into a flower arrangement as fragrant filler. One great filler herb for bouquets is mint. Mint grows like a weed, and is one of the lowest-maintenance herbs out there.
It is also hard to kill. As long as the mint is given water, it can survive in a vase for weeks. This makes it ideal for those looking for long-lasting and low-maintenance filler plants. Best of all, mint adds a wonderful and refreshing smell to any room.
6. Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is another filler plant that adds a very distinct and pleasant aroma to any bouquet it is added to. There are many different types of eucalyptus you can grow. They range in levels of difficulty, but silver dollar eucalyptus is the quintessential variety for flower arranging.
This plant can last weeks in arrangements, and it is both pliable and strong. It is often the last plant standing in a bouquet, especially when a vase runs out of water. This makes it a great choice for those looking for fragrant and low-maintenance filler flowers.
7. Bells Of Ireland
If you are looking for long and elegant stalks to add to a flower arrangement, consider the less-popular but very lovely bells of Ireland. This annual grows long spike stems that are filled with bell-shaped green flowers. They are both geometric and mesmerizing. Due to the green color, though, they don’t distract from the other flowers and instead offer a great addition of height and texture to any flower arrangement. This filler flower can last up to 10 days and has long sturdy stalks, as well as a subtle and refreshing scent that breathes life into any bouquet.
8. Scented Geranium
Geraniums, and the scented geranium in particular, offer a great filler for flower arrangements. It is yet another example of a filler plant that offers a nice natural fragrance. The leaves have a unique shape and hold up for more than a week without drooping, unlike many other green filler leaves. This makes it a great option for those looking for unique shapes and small pops of green color throughout an arrangement.
9. Purple Basil
Basil is probably one of the last herbs you would think you can add to a bouquet, but it works surprisingly well. The key is to choose a variety that will hold up over time. Sweet basil might be great for cooking, but it isn’t the best option for a bouquet.
Instead, opt for more resilient and aesthetically pleasing options like purple or even red basil. These varieties are less likely to droop over time, offer unique color, and give off a sweet and pleasant aroma.
10. Queen Anne’s Lace
Another less popular but amazing filler plant for bouquets that is easy to grow in your garden is Queen Anne’s Lace. This plant has long stalks with a lovely canopy of small white flowers at the top. It is a species that offers additional volume to any bouquet. It is also a great substitute for baby’s breath that you can easily grow in your garden in a climate that is prone to more moisture.
11. Rosemary
Lastly, if you are looking to add the smell of a Christmas tree into your home, or are looking to add the look of a pine tree to your bouquet, consider adding talks of rosemary. Rosemary can work surprisingly well in bouquets, especially holiday-themed arrangements. Rosemary is very easy to grow, and its long stalks can stay alive in water for up to two weeks.
Summing Up Plants You Can Grow That Make Great Filler In Flower Arrangements
Flower arranging is an art form, but it is a type of expression that doesn't need to cost much money. If you simply grow a few flowering plants and plenty of easy-to-grow filler plants, you can have free flower arrangements throughout the warm months. Some of the best filler plants you should add to your yard include baby’s breath, eucalyptus, honeywort, and dusty miller. You can also add fragrant herbs to your flower arrangements, including purple basil, mint, and even rosemary.
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Tom Gaffey is an expert writer who currently resides in Washington D.C. Tom has a passion for real estate and home improvement writing, as well as travel and lifestyle writing. He lived the last twelve years in Hawaii where he worked closely with luxury resorts and event planners, mastering his knowledge of aesthetics and luxury products. This is where he found his passion for home improvement and a keen interest in DIY projects. Currently, Tom resides in Washington D.C, and also working on his debut fiction novel.
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