Make a Mother's Day Bouquet

To create the perfect Mother’s Day bouquet, choose large blooms for the centerpiece, smaller blooms as fillers, and greenery to add texture. Arrange the flowers from the inside out. Start with the center flowers then add in the fillers and the greenery. Finish the bouquet by either placing it in a vase, securing it with string, or by wrapping it in tissue paper.

Steps

Choosing the Flowers

  1. Decide on a color palette. You can use your moms’ favorite color as your color palette for the flowers. You could also use the color of your mom’s dining room, bedroom, or kitchen as the color palette. Once you decide on a color, choose flowers of varying hues to create a balanced look.[1]
    • For example, if your mom’s favorite color is pink, then pick pink, magenta, blush, and white flowers for the bouquet.
  2. Pick large blooms for the centerpiece. You want to do this since these will be the focal point of the bouquet. Additionally, pick an odd number of large blooms. Depending on how big you want the bouquet to be, pick one, three, or five large blooms.[2]
    • Choose your mom’s favorite flowers for the centerpiece. If your mom doesn’t have a preference, then choose flowers that appeal to your taste.
    • Examples of large bloom flowers that are perfect for centerpieces are roses, dahlias, tulips, peonies, cosmos, sweet peas, and lisianthus flowers.
  3. Choose filler flowers. When creating your bouquet, you will need to choose smaller flowers to fill in the space between the bigger ones. These are referred to as filler flowers. Make sure the colors of the fillers complement the colors of the bigger flowers. [3]
    • Some examples of flowers that work great as fillers are spiraea, lavender, hellebore, statice, and seeded eucalyptus.
    • For example, seeded eucalyptus and lavender pair well with white or pastel colored roses and dahlias.
  4. Select the greenery. Greenery is great for adding texture and depth to the bouquet. Additionally, by picking greenery that is leafy and tall, you can add height and weight to the bouquet.[1]
    • Some great choices for greenery are seeded eucalyptus, bells of Ireland, ruscus, penny gum, rosemary, forsythia, and astilbe.

Arranging the Flowers

  1. Place the large blooms in the center. Lay the large blooms down on a table first. Order them according to how you think they look best.[1]
    • Alternatively, you can hold the flowers in your hand while you arrange them.
  2. Fill in the spaces with smaller flowers. Place the smaller flowers in the gaps between the larger blooms. To create contrast, place pale-hued flowers next to rich-hued flowers.[1]
    • For example, place a white flower next to a magenta-colored dahlia to create contrast.
    • If you are holding the flowers as you arrange them, then rotate the bouquet to make sure you are placing the flowers evenly.
  3. Add in greenery. For the final touches, fill in any extra spaces or gaps with the greenery. You can also place the greenery at the front and end of the flower line to round out the bouquet.[4]
  4. Check the arrangement. Pick the flowers up into a bouquet with your hands. Looking at the top of the bouquet, check to see that the colors are balanced. Also check to see if any flowers need to be repositioned to balance the overall flow of the bouquet. Make sure to check for any gaps as well.[5]
    • For example, if one side of the bouquet has too much greenery, then remove some and place it on the other side of the bouquet, or add more greenery to the other side.

Finalizing the Arrangement

  1. Place the flowers in vase. Fill a vase with water. Before placing the flowers in the vase, trim the ends at a diagonal with scissors (the stems do not need to be the same length). Then place the flowers in a vase of your choice.[6]
    • Get creative by using a pitcher, garden bucket, mason jar, glass cylinder, or another found object as your vase.
    • Spice up a plain, glass cylinder by tying a ribbon around it.
  2. Tie them with string. Use raffia string, ribbon, wired ribbon, or another type of string to tie your flowers. Cut a piece of string that is long enough to wrap around the stems at least twice. Lay the string on the table and place your bouquet on top. Then wrap the string around the stems and secure it with a bow or a fancy knot.[3]
    • If you bought your flowers ahead of time, place them in the freezer, or a vase with fresh, cool water to prevent them from wilting.
  3. Wrap them in tissue paper. Lay two pieces of tissue paper on a table at different angles to make your first layer. Using the same technique, lay two more layers of tissue paper on top of the first layer. Then, lay the bouquet on top of the tissue paper. Fold the bottom of the tissue paper up and the sides over and in. Fasten with ribbon or string. Fold down the edges of the tissue paper to make the flowers more visible.[5]
    • Use three to four different colors of tissue paper.
    • For a rustic look, use brown parchment paper instead of tissue paper.

Tips

  • Place your flowers in cool, fresh water, or the freezer if it will be a few days before they are delivered. If you place them in water, change the water daily and trim the stems a fourth of an inch every time you change the water.[7]
  • Purchase flowers from your local farmer’s market or flower shop.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://camillestyles.com/living/field-trip/mothers-day-bouquet-gypsy-floral?slide=16
  2. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/living/floral-arrangement-how-to/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://blog.abigailahern.com/design/how-to-make-a-mothers-day-bouquet/
  4. ↑ http://blog.abigailahern.com/design/how-to-make-a-mothers-day-bouquet/
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrO5MtBfZsM
  6. ↑ http://www.bhg.com/holidays/mothers-day/gifts/mothers-day-flowers-ideas/?slideId=01b6c0e8-7909-42a9-a14b-2069d445cb34
  7. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mothers-day-flowers_us_572b87b4e4b0bc9cb045fe1a
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