Hand-Tied Bouquet How-To

I have a few weddings booked this summer so I've been doing some floral arranging lately to get some ideas and inspiration.

Today, I made a simple hand-tied bouquet of garden roses. It's a simple arrangement that's easy to put together.

Here's how.

The amounts of roses needed, depends on the size of the bouquet your are wanting. I just used what flowers I had, 9 stems. Strip the stems of leaves and in my case, any damaged petals.

Next, using the curve of your hand (the 'c' between your thumb and pointer finger), start with the stems you want to be in the middle of your bouquet. In my case, I wanted the biggest, most open blooms. Hold onto your arrangement tight, and turn slightly as you add each stem. This makes for a nice, round bouquet that's even. I always use an odd number of stems - just like in decorating, and throw in a few contrasting bits (in my case, cream roses), usually more to the outside (and not perfectly evenly spaced either). Putting together a bouquet is much like putting together a room. The same principles of balance, coordination, complimenting and contrasting and a focal point all apply!

Take a look at your bouquet from all angles to make sure everything is even, and the right height. Tie your bouquet tightly with twine at the top of "handle" of your arrangement. Trim the stems evenly, straight across the bottom to your desired height. In the case of a wedding bouquet, I wrap the handle with pretty ribbon (this is a great place to incorporate wedding accent colours, especially if they're not naturally found in flower form). The ribbon is pinned in place with pretty head pins. This also doubles as being more comfortable in the hands of the carrier, as opposed to plain stems which can be harsh and uneven, depending on the variety of flower.

Keep in room temperature water, preferably with a bit of flower food.