I’m not sure what I was thinking when I bought roses this week. Roses do not like the heat and Los Angeles’s heat wave does not look like letting up any time soon. These pretty yellow flowers were tightly closed and amazing value at my local (air conditioned!) supermarket at $12.99 for 18 long-stemmed roses.

While not often used in modern arrangements, you can make any flower work in a modern setting by keeping it simple and upping the drama.

I’ve cut the stems of my flowers so the head of each bloom sits around two inches higher than my rectangular glass vase. I’ve kept only the top one or two leaf stems. Fill the vase two thirds full with water. Stand the stems as straight as possible in the vase (but don’t stress when they are not sitting perfectly) creating a layer of water and stems, a layer of green leaves, and a layer of yellow flowers. Finally add some twisted willow sticks, but just the finest curly parts of the willow to give the arrangement some artistry.

This is a striking modern rose arrangement. Now I just need to find a cool spot in the house to display it…