Tried using chicken wire for a large arrangement and spent 45 minutes untangling it

I thought I'd save money on a proper frog by grabbing some chicken wire from the hardware store. Ended up cutting my fingers three times and still couldn't get the stems to stay put. Has anyone else had better luck with those plastic grid things?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray6137d ago

...and actually, that Kenzan holder you mentioned is technically a needle frog, not a grid. The plastic grid things are different, they're more like a mesh disc that fits inside the vase opening. Both work great, but for different reasons. The needle frogs are better for heavier stems and really precise placement. The grids are better if you're doing something loose and natural where you want the stems to cross each other at different angles. I learned that one the hard way after buying the wrong thing three times.

ray_burns7d agoMost Upvoted

...and I really went back and forth on this for years, always thinking the metal grids were just as good and a lot cheaper. Then my wife picked up one of those plastic Kenzan-style holders from a craft store and I made fun of her for spending ten bucks on it. Well, I needed to do a quick centerpiece for a family dinner and grabbed her plastic grid and it held everything in place without a single fight. No poked fingers, no stems floating sideways, no cursing in the kitchen. I still use chicken wire for really big outdoor projects where the stems are thick and tough, but for anything inside a vase, I'm converted now.

paige_bell817d agoMost Upvoted

Funny how that works, isn't it? I had the same thing happen with those little rubber flower frogs you stick in the bottom of a vase - swore they were useless until I actually tried one.