HOW TO ASSEMBLE A SIMPLE BOUQUET

Ciao'd while watching the top seeds cruise through the Wimbledon first round. (Flower) power.

 

STYLE NOTE

This technique works best with thinner and shorter-stemmed garden blooms, such as daffodils, tulips, and ranunculus. Thicker and long-stemmed varieties, such as calla lilies and ginger blossoms, are better displayed as single stems or spaced apart in a larger vase.

Fill a medium vase three-quarters full with cool water. 

Grasp a bunch of flowers and trim the stems to the same length. Arrange stems, one by one, to form a circle around the inside perimeter of the vase. Repeat the circle arrangement, filling in the gaps and spaces (inserting the stems vertically). Continue this pattern until the vase is full.

Grasp the bouquet with both hands and lift out of the vase. If you wish, at this point, you can transfer the bouquet to one hand and trim the stems to an even length again. I think this is a lovely treatment for tulips, and other thicker stemmed flowers, but I like to keep the stems organic with posies like daffodils. I will trim only the extra long stems.

Place a rubber band around the stems. Tie with a ribbon or raffia and insert into the vase. Gorgeous!