Beautiful summer bouquets
If you are the lucky owner of a perennial garden, it is wonderful to be able to tie your own bouquets to the dinner table. It is also nice to be able to tie a bouquet if you are impulsively going to visit some friends. It's not that difficult, but it does require some practice. To get the best and most durable result, it is very important that the flowers are completely saturated with water before they are tied. It is an advantage to cut the flowers as early or late in the day as possible. Here are the most excited of the dew. Take a bucket of water out into the garden and put the cut flowers directly into the water so that they don't have time to dry out on the cut surface. Leave them in plenty of lukewarm water for at least a few hours before tying them.
A bouquet must be tied in a spiral. This means that the stems protect each other from the pressure coming from the tie string. Once you have the spiral in place, the technique is the same, whether it's a small and tight bouquet, or an airy and open one.
Start by cleaning the stems of the flowers and the green filling you may tie in between. If you want to make an airy bouquet, remove leaves up to about halfway up the stem. If it is a small and dense bouquet, there must only be approximately 10 cm of stem, on which there must be leaves. It is important that the stems are completely cleaned, as the leaves and buds will cause the water to rot faster and therefore shorten the life of the bouquet.
Think a little about shapes and colors, as well as fragrance, when you choose flowers for your bouquet. It is important that there is variety in the bouquet to give an exciting overall impression. Feel free to choose one flower as the main theme, and preferably in several different color shades. Herbs, like the greens, between the flowers make a nice play. Especially the small-leaved and grey-toned ones are good, and the scent is just an added plus.
Start with a single flower stem and cross the next stem across. A good trick is to let the flowers run to the left (to the right if you are left-handed). Place the flower horizontally, along the back of the hand, before tilting it under the thumb. It seems a bit exaggerated the first few times, but the technique means that you cannot avoid getting the spiral to turn the right way. So try it a few times until it sticks. If you have to turn the bouquet along, it is easiest to do so by squeezing all the stems together with your hand and turning the bouquet carefully. Finish the bouquet by tying string or basting a few times around the stems, again without letting go of the bouquet. Make sure your vase is completely cleaned and filled with clean water.
If you use lilacs in the bouquet, these must have a slightly rough treatment, in order to absorb as much water as possible. The woody stems can be a little difficult to get to absorb water and therefore you can advantageously make a long oblique cut and then knock the stem flat with a hammer or the handle of a knife or scissors. The bouquet here consists of purple roses, pink and purple lupins, allium, flowers from chives, silver poplar branches, lavender and various herbs without flowers.
