The Principles and Elements of great design in floral art and flower arranging is finally now available in an exclusive CD, " Principles and Elements in Floral Design" with Ngaire Clarke. Try a lesson on each element and principle with a floral project to try, read more here. The feature illustrated here is balance

There are two types of balance: The actual  physical balance so the design doesn't fall over, and the visual balance, where the viewer sees the design as being pleasing to the eye, and visually  the plant material is equal on both sides of imaginary line down the middle of a design.

This can be achieved with symmetry with similar forms on both sides of the imaginary line, or asymmetrically, where dissimilar forms are on either side.

If you look at the design on the right, you will see colour balance between the two placements, space balance as the two driftwood pieces enclose the space between the hanging and floor placements,  weight balance as the bigger piece of driftwood at the bottom,  is visually balanced by the height of the top arrangement counteracting its bulk. Jill had to achieve actual balance with the hanging arrangement so it floated in the position she wanted.

She used 2 placements, one on the floor and the other hanging above it. Conifer, bergenia leaves, leucospernums, strelitzia, shredded flax, and driftwood were the plant materials she used.
 
 
 

In the design on the right, from the book Wedding Flowers, the candles add the height and the ribbon the depth, with identical trails of ivy adding to the impact of the window sill location.