26 Types of Filler Flowers and Greenery
Nothing brings a bouquet to life like gorgeous filler flowers and the various types of greenery that surround it! While focal flowers are what draw the eye, adding other stems is what helps bring an arrangement to life. Even the smallest blooms and leaves make a huge difference and pack a lot of meaning. From delicate baby’s breath to colorful snapdragons, rich ferns to romantic dusty millers, discover 26 types of filler flowers and greenery that will round out your bouquets and floral arrangements. (Plus, learn the symbolism that lies behind each of them!)
1. Baby’s Breath
Baby's Breath is one of the most popular types of filler flowers. Although its white hue is popular, it comes in a variety of tinted colors, as well. The flower is delicate and soft, just like a baby, and symbolizes innocence. It’s also referred to as angel's breath. Though traditionally used as a filler, this flower can also be used alone to create fluffy, cloud-like arrangements or beautiful baby's breath garlands. This flower is growing in popularity for modern weddings and compliments classic flowers like roses.
2. Bells of Ireland
Bells of Ireland, also known as molucella, has a long stem that is lined with clusters of bell-shaped blooms. This type of greenery is perfect for adding height and texture to bouquets and centerpieces. It is said to symbolize luck, making it a great way to ease worries on your wedding day! Add these stems to your wedding bouquets to achieve that organic, asymmetrical look, or pair it with white flowers for a classic and timeless arrangement.
3. Bouvardia
Bouvardia features clusters of star-like flowers that have a delicate scent and come in shades of pink and white. The cluster of blooms on each stem resembles a small bouquet! Add some Bouvardia to your wedding to represent enthusiasm. After all, you are marrying the person of your dreams!
4. Delphinium
Another beautiful type of filler flower for adding height is delphinium, which has long stalks covered in many small blooms. Delphinium is a great flower for adding something blue, as it comes in many true blue hues, but you can also find it in white, light pink, and purple. For a truly elegant and breathtaking effect, try combining the different shades of this flower together in one bouquet! The delphinium stands for swiftness and lightness.
5. Dusty Miller
Representing happiness and delicacy, dusty miller is a popular type of greenery. It's often used in soft, garden-like bouquets. Its velvety, frosted, sage green leaves make it the perfect match for petal heavy blooms like garden roses, ranunculus, and peonies. This is also a great greenery choice for muted, neutral, or pastel color palettes! Find it in both flat and lacy leaf varieties.
6. Feverfew Daisies
Who doesn’t love the look of freshly-picked wildflowers? Feverfew daisies can help achieve that look with their beautiful daisy-like blooms and long, wispy stems. This type of filler flower may have small blooms, but its bright-yellow centers and white petals really stand out in an arrangement. Feverfew looks beautiful on its own but also pairs nicely with other wildflowers. We love seeing little pops of yellow throughout a bouquet. This beautiful flower is also tied to good health and protection!
7. Fiddlehead Fern
Fiddlehead ferns have a branch-like stem with a curly tip that spirals at the end. This fern is available year-round and comes in a range of hues, varying from a dark green to a deep purple, almost black, color. With its one-of-a-kind shape and beautiful color, it can easily add dimension and texture to any arrangement. It especially pairs well with rich, fall colors, but also looks stunning mixed in with a ton of greenery. Adding a few stems of fiddleheads can easily transform your arrangements into a woodland fairy tale. In general, ferns are tied to youth and new life.
8. Heather
Heather is a type of filler flower that features tiny fisheye blooms that run the length of its branchy stems. Perfect for filling in the gaps and adding a unique texture, heather is available in white, pink, and green. Pair this bloom with wildflowers, roses, or anything in between. It is believed that Heather has protective powers and can also symbolize admiration and good luck.
9. Holly
Holly is mainly used as a Christmas or winter flower, making it perfect for anyone saying "I do" during those holiday months! The bunches of bright red berries against fresh greenery will add a fresh, natural look and feel to your wedding bouquets and arrangements. Holly traditionally symbolizes humility and domestic happiness. Pretty perfect for a winter wedding don't ya think?!
10. Italian Ruscus
With its rich green color and its narrow tear-shaped leaves, Italian Ruscus makes a gorgeous type of greenery. As an added bonus, this greenery is available year-round and is long-lasting. This variety looks beautiful on its own, especially when it’s used to decorate tables. It also pairs nicely with candles, giving off a glam and romantic feel. Ruscus can be tied to thoughtfulness.
11. Ivy
Ivy is another popular choice for garden, vintage, or romantic wedding bouquets. Their carefree draping shape can create movement, which may be why their unstructured look is so popular! Plus its pointed leaves give it a natural, down-to-earth look. If you want to create a cascading wedding bouquet, look no further than this free-flowing greenery. Ivy also has the perfect meaning for weddings, as they represent wedded love, affection, fidelity, and friendship!
12. Leather Leaf Fern
The leather leaf fern is another romantic and lovely filler greenery. With tufted, rich green leaves that fan out triangularly, this fern provides a dramatic backdrop to the flowers in your bouquet. Greenery is essential for filling out your arrangements and filling in gaps, and the tiered structure of these stems makes it perfect for just that! The stem is strong yet flexible, and the entire fern grows up to 24 inches tall and 8 inches wide. The symbolism for leather leaf stretches from passion to productiveness.
13. Leyland Cedar
Leyland Cedar is commonly associated with the holidays, but its longevity and dark green color make it an excellent choice no matter the time of year. Its ties to the exciting holiday season help it to evoke feelings of joy and anticipation. Leyland Cedar can be tucked into a holiday-inspired wreath or mixed in with other greens in a garland. One of the great things about this greenery is that it is easy to work with! A table runner can easily be created using our Leyland Cedar: simply lay strands of greenery down the center of a table for an effortless and festive arrangement. Attaching a sprig or two on napkins, table numbers, or place cards is also a great way to use this greenery, and it pairs well with any type of berries, such as Hypericum Berries, Hanging Pepperberry, and Red Ilex Berry Branches.
14. Lily of the Valley
Lily of the Valley is a very delicate flower with tiny bell-shaped blooms and broad basal leaves. This is the perfect filler flower for delicate and dainty wedding arrangements (think Princess Kate's wedding bouquet.) This white flower symbolizes purity, humility, happiness and sweetness. A bunch of these blooms altogether makes a sweet and simple arrangement, although we love to see Lily of the Valley paired with all types of flowers as well!
15. Lisianthus
Lisianthus is a wonderful type of filler flower that features anywhere between two to six budding flowers per stem. The blooms feature delicate layers of petals, soft and romantic, while the un-bloomed buds add perfect texture. This bloom is available in lots of great colors and in mini, single, double, and designer varieties. With so much variety, there are endless ways that you can use these flowers on your big day! Lisianthus is said to represent being outgoing.
16. Moss
Moss is fun greener that is great for whimsical, woodland, and even modern arrangements. With such a natural and earthy feel to it, this greenery will bring texture and freshness to your tablescapes. Symbolizing maternal love, this would be great for a bride who is a mom or mom-to-be, or to use as a token of remembrance for those mothers who can't be there to celebrate.
17. Myrtle
Myrtle symbolizes love and is the Hebrew emblem of marriage. Every royal bride since Queen Victoria has had a sprig of myrtle in her bouquet! The myrtle comes from a tree which grew from a cutting of Queen Victoria’s own bridal bouquet. Since then, each royal bride has included a sprig from the original plant in her bouquet, and the bridesmaids then plant the sprigs in Queen Victoria’s garden after the wedding. This type of greenery has a classic and timeless feel to it - plus you can feel like royalty by adding your very own sprigs of myrtle!
18. Queen Anne’s Lace
Queen Anne's lace is similar to baby's breath with its tiny and delicate clusters of small white flowers, however, these clusters are less scattered and are focused at the top of the stem. If you like the look and feel of baby's breath, but want to try something a little different, this is the right type of filler flower for you. Queen Anne's lace symbolizes magic, trust, and healing.
19. Sedum
Sedum, also known as stonecrop flowers, have clusters of tiny pink blooms and are only available from August to October. We love seeing this little pop of pink in an all-white arrangement, or paired with a monochromatic collection of other pink flowers! Folklore has said the essence of the sedum flower is a cure for broken and wounded hearts. Another popular meaning of this flower is tranquility.
20. Snapdragon
The snapdragon is a popular filler flower, good for adding height, structure, and color to arrangements. Find it in a variety of colors such as pink, purple, yellow, orange, white, and burgundy. Snapdragon is known for its wispy petals. A single stem averages 10-15 unique blooms, which are grouped closely together giving the impression of a single lengthy flower. Said to represent desire, snapdragons would make a wonderful addition to any bouquet or centerpiece, or a great gift for that special someone.
21. Statice
Statice is sometimes called the tissue flower, because of its tissue-paper texture. It’s also called sea lavender. Whatever you call it, statice is a stunning filler flower that comes in purple, blue, white, pink, and yellow. Each main stem has a spray of smaller branches with several of these tiny funnel-shaped flowers. They have a long vase life, making them popular for both fresh and dried arrangements. The meaning of statice is lasting beauty and success, and because of its longevity, statice has grown to be the flower of fond memories. Statice is also symbolic of remembrance and sympathy.
22. Stephanotis
Stephanotis, also known as Madagascar Jasmine, is another type of filler flower with a beautiful meaning for weddings...marital happiness! It is a sweetly scented flower that blooms to form a 5-pointed star. Due to their small stems, special wiring may be required for design work. We often see this bloom in all-white wedding bouquets!
23. Stock
Don't let the name fool you: Stock is anything but ordinary. It is fluffy, tall, and fragrant in all the right ways! In Spanish, this flower is known as "El Aleli" — a much prettier name, don't you think?! It can have a spicy, clove-like fragrance and is indicative of a happy life and lasting bonds of affection. Using these flowers in your wedding arrangements will symbolize the lifelong commitment you're about to make, and gifting a bouquet of these blooms says, "You will always be beautiful to me."
24. Sweet Pea
This list of filler flowers and greenery wouldn’t be complete without dainty, petite sweet peas. The sweet pea gets its name from its sweet scent and would look great in a soft spring bouquet. These blooms are said to symbolize delicate pleasures and would make a great addition to any arrangement.
25. Sword Fern
The sword fern is a long, flat-leaf with sword-shaped fronds (hence the name!). Sword fern comes in a bright green color so it really pops in floral arrangements. This specific variety works well in tall, structured arrangements. This type of greenery comes in a grower’s bunch, which is typically 8-10 stems per bunch. It has a long shelf-life with proper care. It’s also available year-round! Sword ferns look amazing in tropical arrangements but also work well with other themes such as boho or woodland events. Any type of fern, including this one, can be used to symbolize good luck!
26. Variegated Pittosporum
Variegated pittosporum symbolizes purity and features a tall, woody stem that bursts into dense green leaves. Its beautiful cream edges and the two-toned color is what sets this greenery apart from the rest! It is also available year-round, long-lasting, and can maintain its shape out of water. This greenery is bound to stand out and make an impression even when paired with showy flowers like peonies. Variegated pittosporum is commonly paired with flowers like roses, kale, dahlias and hypericum berries, though they look great with just about any flower!
It also comes in a miniature size that's perfect for boutonnieres or corsages. Mini variegated pittosporum is easy to work with and its size makes it ideal for smaller arrangements. It looks great in flower crowns, too! For an organic or bohemian look, pair mini variegated pittosporums with white spray roses.
Choosing the Right Types of Filler Flowers and Greenery
Now that you've learned about the different types of fillers and greenery, it's time to decide which ones you'll use in your arrangements. When picking out your flowers, you'll want to consider a variety of factors including your venue, color scheme, budget, and overall vision. If having meaning behind your flowers is important to you, you'll also want to factor in flower symbolism.
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See More:
- 8-Step DIY Wedding Flower Guide
- Rose Color Meanings
- 13 DIY Wedding Centerpieces Your Budget Will Love
Credits:
Originally written by Marina Strong, Updated by Leah Britt
Featured Photo & Ivy Photo - Planning + Design + Florals// @burlapandbordeaux, Photographer + Creative Director// @christiannetaylor, PR firm// @raycepr, Venue// @palosverdesgolfclub, Linens// @luxe_linen, Videography// @jeremyfosterfilms, Cake// @lelepatisserie, Rentals// @premiere_rents @papillonrentals @dreamsamerica, Bridal Salon: @kinsleyjamescouturebridal, Veil// @anomalie, Tux// @friartux, Beauty// @face_it_sugar, Paper Goods// @fawn-lettering, Models// @Jonah_bhn @alyenajaye, Flowers// @fiftyflowers, Gown// @Nettabenshabu.official
Feverfew Daisies Photo - Bride: @meagsmccormick, Groom: @mattyyj, Paper: @minted, Florist: @inessanicholsdesign, Photography: @sanazphotography, Rentals: @archiverentals, Event: @allyouneedisloveevents, Publication: @martha_weddings, Party Accessories: @foryourparty, Catering: @colettescatering, Dress: @madewithnridal, Cake: @plumeriacakestudio, Cinematography: @618studios, Hair & Makeup: @pagebeauty
All other photos by FiftyFlowers
