Aim to use two or 3 of each type of flower and arrange them in two parallel sections using leaves and twigs to frame the arrangement. Any colourful flowers will do. The foliage is a little more tricky - tall and curved. And the sticks must be straight.

Equipment: a boat shaped vase, oasis.

Flowers and Foliage: selection of coloured flowers with different textures., a bunch of straight twigs, aspidistra leaves, foliage.

Step 1: soak the oasis and add it to the vase.

Step 2: Start with the twigs. Divide them into two groups and add to the oasis by packing them tightly together - they look like two sets of masts on a ship.

Step 3: Add the aspidistra leaves to each side, curving inwards.

Step 4: Add the two tallest flowers / foliage - this establishes the height.

Step 5: Start adding the coloured flowers in two separate groups, varying height and texture. Start with the tallest and work your way down in height. Note that it is more interesting if the two sides don’t match each other.

Step 6: Add foliage to the base where needed to cover the oasis.

It is important that the two groups are not identical. Varying the flowers, heights and placement makes for a more interesting arrangement.

My flower and foliage selections were a bit of a compromise this week. I used Restio grass instead of the twigs and aspidistra. Restios have beautiful bracts and a dramatic flowing foliage so I thought it would work. The flowers were a last minute supermarket purchase so don’t have the range of colour I would have liked: greens, whites and purples only. And for the filling foliage I reused the Mexican orange blossom leaves from last week because they worked with the green of the flowers.