Mixed Bouquets

Erin Benzakein, the flower farmer at Floret Farms from Washington, has become somewhat of an authority on the internet on flowers- how to grow them and what to do with them. 

I happened to catch her tutorial on mixed bouquets and tried putting it into practice.  

Something that she didn’t mention that spans any art form is being aware of color. Whether you’re designing a room, printed invitation, or in this case bouquet you need to start by picking a color scheme. That’s going to make all the difference in how your bouquet turns out. 

Start by cutting your flowers and putting them right in water. If you don’t really have flowers for cutting you can also practice some of these concepts with mixed greens or found flowers.

I used to think the only flowers worth anything were the perfectly chilled and preserved flowers you see at the grocery store. But that’s not true at all.

For example, a bouquet that I threw together at the last second turned out to be one of my favorites. I’d decided not to spend money on a 2nd bridal bouquet just for my Bridal photos. I’d just take them without one. We were getting in the car to take the pictures when I looked at my Mom’s garden. I started running around the yard in my wedding dress pulling up flowers and foliage and jumped back in the car. I loved how it turned out. The colors and informality of it fit me perfectly.

Flowers are flowers and they all have a place on display in some way.  

Once you’ve let your flowers sit in water for a little bit you can start working with them to make your bouquet.

 Erin B says that you lay each kind of flower out in a pile. She is a commercial grower so she’s trying to pump out as many bouquets as fast as she can but since I’m just making one here and there for Granny and my neighbor across the street I have the luxury of slowing down a bit.

 For my bouquet I used marigolds, zinnias, German chamomile, a dahlia, snapdragons and a little tree sprout that came up in my garden. 

 Her advice is to choose a focal flower (sunflower) and then pick up the flowers and put them in threes around the bouquet, spinning as you go.  

 You don’t need to be too exact in your process. Anyway it was fun to give it a try and it’s been fun to have a way to give my flowers away this summer. Flowers truly make people happy. I know they always brighten my life. Thanks Erin for the tutorial!