Video: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Happy Summer Bouquet
Before beginning this hand-tied summer bouquet, strip all the unwanted leaves off of each stem you’re going to use and gather all stems together either in a vase or laid out by type on the table in front of you.
Begin with your sturdiest greenery or branches (in this case, pink flowering weigela), forming a cross or tripod out of two or three pieces, adjusting until you have a base shape that you like to model the rest of the bouquet from.
Follow their color gradation by adding in a couple of lupines, which fade from lighter pink into soft yellow, slowly and gently introducing the next color into the arrangement.
Next, add the fully yellow flowers, varying the upward and downward gestures. Fill in with the more saturated yellow-green lady’s mantle, saving some pieces aside to add in later if needed.
Add in the accent flower ranunculus, being mindful to choose from among the ones you’ve pulled for the best color blend based on how the rest of your bouquet is shaping up.
Place the peony focal flowers after the ranunculus. As you do so, think about the overall bouquet silhouette as well as establishing a central resting place for the eye. Finish it off with textural accents like young apples.
Finally, when you think you’re done with the bouquet, set it down and step away for a few minutes (or hours if you can), and come back with fresh eyes to make final tweaks and finishes before tying off and ribboning.
Key Points to Making This Summertime Bouquet
Prep and organize your materials ahead of time, especially if you have several bouquets to make at once—this facilitates efficiency!
Move through your creation one color at a time, paying attention to transitional colors and the way they draw your eye through the piece.
Step away from your finished summer bouquet for a while whenever possible and come back to it to make tweaks before sending it out the door. You’ll likely notice things you didn’t see before, and you’ll produce your best work when you allow yourself a second pass at it!
