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As summer approaches its finale, the garden brims with blooms. And what better way to enjoy them than to bring in a bouquet?
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Kim manages our boutique gift shop, and she's a veteran of the florist's industry. This week, she shows us how to make bespoke bouquets out of whatever you have on hand!
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Step 1: Forage for Flowers
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When you go out to the garden to gather material, bring a pair of scissors that make sharp, clean cuts, and a container to collect your cuttings. Look for pleasing contrasts of color, texture and shape.
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Flowers that are just beginning to open will last longer than flowers that are fully open already. As you put your finds into your collection container, take care not to squish the more plants.
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Think outside the vase! The container that you choose doesn’t necessarily need to hold water. A glass vase, mason jar, or even a plastic tub raided from the recycling bin can be set inside of a basket or other attractive outer covering.
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Make sure that the container that will hold the flowers is scrupulously clean to avoid introducing bacteria into the water.
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For our arrangement, Kim selected a cheerful purple pot and a block of florist’s foam, which is easy to find at any craft store. She put the foam in water to soak for at least twenty minutes.
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Once the block was soaked, she shaved off the edges to fit into the container, allowing it to stick up over the edge by one inch.
Foam is easy to arrange in, but your flowers will last longer in water. If you’re using a vase or bowl, you can make a grid of clear tape across the mouth of it to help the flowers stay where you put them.
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3. Prepare what you've Gathered
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Treating cut flowers ahead of time so that they last longer is called “conditioning,” and it’s the magic trick that can transform home flower arrangements from disappointing to delightful. Not all flowers perform well in bouquets, but with good conditioning, you should find success with most of what you harvest. Here’s how it works:
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-Strip leaves (and thorns, if relevant,) from flower stems. In the case of foliage, remove any leaves that will be underwater. This helps everything last longer.
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-Prepare a clean container with fresh water. Most plants condition well at water temperatures of 100-120°F, although the blooms of spring bulbs like cooler water, while trees and shrubs (including roses) prefer temperatures around 150°F. Add a few drops of chlorine bleach per gallon of water to discourage bacteria.
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-Give all of your stems a fresh cut at an angle. For woody stems, cut the bottom inch in quarters, slicing up the middle at right angles so that the stem will take up more water.
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-Plunge the freshly cut stems into the prepared container of water, and leave in a dimly lit spot to hydrate, ideally overnight.
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Now comes the fun part! Select odd numbers of each element to use in your bouquet. People subconsciously find odd groupings of objects more visually pleasing than even groupings.
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-Begin by selecting the tallest element of the bouquet and putting it in place. To make your bouquet appear proportional, you want the tallest element to stick up 1.5-2x higher than the container it’s placed inside of.
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-Large shapes and dark colored elements appear visually “heavier,” and should be placed near the bottom center of the arrangement.
-Add depth around the structural elements with “fillers.”
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Fillers are often foliage, but they can also be flowers- Baby’s breath is a common filler in florist’s bouquets. If you have supporting structure to disguise, such as florist’s foam or a grid of tape, this is the time to do it.
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-To finish, add smaller, visually “lighter” flowers/foliage farther away from the base of the arrangement. These add additional depth and form to your bouquet.
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Change the water or top up the florist’s foam on a regular basis. Fouled water or a dried out vase are the number one elements that cut short the life of a flower arrangement. Remember to add a trace amount of bleach whenever you renew the water to discourage bacteria.
You may be able to renew your arrangement as individual flowers fade by cutting them off below the lip of the container and adding fresh flowers. Don’t try to pull spent flowers out unless you can do it without displacing everything else.
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Take a second look at the grasses, shrubs and trees around you, and think outside the box about what can put in a bouquet, you might find that you have more material to work with than you think!
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The beauty of homegrown flower arrangements is that the only person they need to please is you! Bring in whatever makes you smile, and enjoy it, or make a friend's day with a homemade bouquet. Cut flower arrangements are a wonderful side benefit of a well-planted garden.
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August 15th-April 5th:
Select Trees, 25% off
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Choose from the following varieties:
Maples
Armstrong Gold Maple
Autumn Blaze Maple
Crimson King Maple
Crimson Sunset Maple
Redpointe Maple
Urban Sunset Maple
Crabapples
Red Jewel Crabapple
Tina Crabapple
Ornamental Cherries
Double Weeping Cherry
Pink Snow Showers Weeping Cherry
Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry
Miscellaneous Trees
Autumn Gold Ginkgo
Skyline Honeylocust
Exclamation Planetree
Colonial Spirit Elm
Fruit Trees
Apples, 2n1
Firestorm Honeycrisp Apple
Jonagold Apple
Jonathan Apple
Red Delicious Apple
Winesap Apple
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