Red and green hand-tied bouquet
I wanted to make an informal bouquet with a Christmas colour palette so settled on the soft greens of natural dried oats and wheat, and some dark but beautiful natural dried red roses. I brightened these up with some dyed green and red lagurus grass and some bleached stems of ruscus foliage and ivory phalaris grass.
Tying the bouquet
I chose a length of understated nutscene twine to finish the arrangement but a big blousy tartan ribbon would add a more luxurious effect.
Tips for bouquet making
- Strip the unsightly leaves from the roses before use.
- Strip the leaves off the lower portion of the stems of the ruscus and oats. This will make them easier to tie and be neater around the bow.
- When you’re putting the bouquet together, use a few stems of each type at a time – if you do one stem of each it will take longer and give a busier overall effect.
- Don’t be too picky about stem length – variation will add interest.
- Make sure the eye-catching items (the brightest reds, greens and whites) are evenly distributed across the bouquet.
- Keep going around the bouquet adding more until you can’t hold any more blooms and grasses in your hand.
- Hold the bouquet together with an elastic band temporarily while you tie the bow with jute twine.
Merry Christmas everyone :)