Bouquets straight from the garden. That’s what most of us want, right? Use these simple recipes to get started, and you’ll have your friends asking you who does your flowers every week!
CELEBRATE SPRING
Cluster the tulips and daffodils in the center of this bouquet for the most impact and let the lilacs drape over the side. Even though the forsythia won’t be blooming, its foliage and stems form a nice contrast to the flowers. Since daffodils ooze a sap that’s hard on the other plants, you might want to wait 24 hours after cutting to use them. Then singe the ends of their stems with a lit match before you put them in water.
SWEET SUMMERTIME
Start with three spikes of delphinium in back, group a few medium-sized dahlia blooms in front and fill in the rest with the cosmos and its airy foliage. Although this arrangement is in pinks and whites, there are so many colors of dahlias that you could choose almost any color scheme.
A SUMMER HARVEST
Cut a cube of florist’s foam an inch or so smaller all around than your basket, soak it in water and floral tape it into a water-tight plastic container inside the basket. Then you can fill that with water and poke your stems into the foam so they stay where you’d like them to. Let the tallest flowers just peek over the top of the basket handle. Use salvias to hide the florist’s foam and provide a bit of darker color in the center of the arrangement to give your eye a place to rest from all the other bright colors.