Create a Bouquet

Pink Extravaganza

Create a bouquet in a beautiful vase, and you are pretty much assured of having an eye-catching piece.

Items needed:

• Flowers to highlight: We have found that it works best if you have one type of flower that you are highlighting (such as pink roses, gladioli, orchids, etc.) when you create a bouquet. The bouquet here highlights - you guessed it - pink roses!
• Some "filler" flowers: Other flowers (such as carnations) add variety and character to the bouquet. The filler flowers used here are red carnations, and a couple of pinkish Gerberas.
• Some greens: Green always makes the flowers stand out. Any greens will do (such as fern leaves, or any pretty looking stems with leaves from your garden).
• Some supplements: These are optional (such as baby's breath).
• Scissors: You will also need some scissors to trim the flowers, leaves, etc. in order to create your bouquet.
• A beautiful vase: Don't underestimate the vase -- a bouquet can look exponentially more stunning if created in a spectacular vase.
• Some ribbon: Tying a pretty ribbon around the vase enhances the look of any bouquet. Pick the thickness of the ribbon based upon the size of the vase. You can also use the color of the ribbon to go with any color scheme you may have in mind.
• Fresh water: Plenty of fresh water should be added to the bouquet, and should be changed once every few days to extend the life of the bouquet.
• Some aspirin: Adding a little aspirin to the water in the vase makes the flowers last longer.

Procedure:

Trim the ends of the stems of the flowers, leaves and supplements, by cutting them at a slight angle. By doing so, you increase the surface area through which the stem can absorb water, so it will stay fresh longer. Also, remember to cut them underwater. Doing this ensures that the stem gets water into it at the instant it is cut, which it absorbs rapidly.

If your flowers came with some flower preserver, go ahead and add it to the water. If you don't have any, put some aspirin into the water -- it will have a similar effect.

Start with the flowers you want to highlight. Place the flowers to be highlighted in a roughly circular arrangement in the vase. This is important especially if you are going to place the bouquet in a place where it will be visible from all sides, such as in the center of a table or counter. This is typically the case with bouquets. An easy way to accomplish this circular arrangement is by criss-crossing the stems, the way it's shown in this picture. If the mouth of the vase you are working with is very large, it also helps to make partitions on the top using scotch-tape, so that the flowers stay roughly where you have placed them, and don't move all over the place.

Now insert some of the "filler" flowers in and around your main flowers. Here we have used red carnations and some pinkish Gerberas as filler flowers.

The next step to create a bouquet is to fill in the empty spaces you can see with your greens. Also, if you have some supplements (such as baby's breath) use just a few of these as touches, and insert these in randomly. The greens and other supplements create a nice backdrop on which the flowers appear more striking.

Do a final look-over and see if the bouquet you have created looks beautiful from all sides. If it looks a little heavier on a particular side, move some flowers around till you are happy with the end-result.

Enjoy your creation -- for its beauty, and fragrance, and for your creativity!