How to Create a Spring Bouquet (with Margaret’s Garden at Grand Hotel)

I was invited to learn how to make the perfect spring bouquet with the wonderfully talented floral team at Margaret’s Garden at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, and I learned more than I ever thought I could about flowers, selecting the right blooms, and keeping them alive. Margaret’s Garden handcrafts each and every one of the floral arrangements scattered around Grand Hotel, inside guest rooms, in the dining and event halls, and they also handle the florals for weddings at Grand Hotel. Needless to say, I couldn’t have asked for better teachers.

While I am a lover of all things that grow and bloom, and I particularly adore Michigan’s many flower festivals that happen each spring and summer, I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have a green thumb. I love to buy the sustainably grown flowers from Whole Foods, or purchase locally grown blossoms and foliage from farmers markets, but I never had much luck getting them to last more than a couple of days once I brought them home. These helpful tips have not only helped me learn how to arrange the flowers I invest in, but also how to extend their life and keep them blooming for much longer than I thought possible.

Materials:

(1) Vase with floral food & water
(1) Large Hydrangea, any color
(5) Roses, tulips, or other bulbous flower, any color
(2) Accent flowers (e.g. gerber daisies, snapdragons, cosmos), any color
(1) Scented flower (e.g. lilacs), any color
(3) Filler flowers (e.g. purple statice, Bells of Ireland, baby’s breath, delphiniums, etc.), any color
(3) Pieces of greenery (e.g. leatherleaf ferns, ivy, cedar, myrtle, boxwood, etc.)

How to Make the Perfect Spring Bouquet, The Margaret’s Garden Way:

1. Take Hydrangea, trim stem at a 45 degree angle, and gently grasp the underside of the blooms, at the base of the stem where the branches begin to separate
2. Tuck a rose inside each of the four corners of the hydrangea, and place one in the centre of the bloom, taking care not to break the stems of the roses.
3. Add accent flowers opposite one another, and tuck gently into the hydrangea
4. Place scented flower into centre of bouquet
5. Add 3 filler flowers equidistant from one another around the outside of the bouquet
6. Add collar of greenery around the base to give it more contrast and color, and help fill out the vase
7. Place vase at edge of table, and trim down stems to the desired height, using base of vase as a guide
8. Add bouquet to vase filled wit water and floral food
9. Tie a ribbon around the base, et voilà! The perfect spring bouquet

To help your bouquet or cut flowers last longer, change the water and food, and trim the stems ever so slightly every two days. This will help ensure that your bouquet can continue to take in fresh nutrients from the stem, and prevent the stems from healing shut.

Watch the video, courtesy of Grand Hotel, below for a visual step-by-step tutorial.

Until next time!

xAnnie Fairfax
aka @AnnieWearsIt
@AnnieFairfax

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