I love flowers. I love flowers on bushes and trees. I love flowers in gardens. I love flowers in the wild.
And I LOVE treating myself with a fresh bunch of flowers.
For way too many years – un-partnered years – I didn’t buy myself flowers. I stupidly thought flowers were something that others bought for you.
That you couldn’t get joy from treating yourself.
How wrong I was. There is so much joy in buying flowers for yourself, as I’ve discovered in the past couple of years when I’ve done just that.
Not long after moving to Brisbane, I’ve met the most wonderful of florists, Francesca of Francesca’s Flowers in situ at her Paddington floristry shop/slash cake and tea rooms.
I loved her passion for her new, creative business. It oozed then and it oozes now when you step into her store.
I order flowers from Francesca every week and last month she surprised me by asking whether I’d like to invite some Styling You readers in for a workshop to learn how to create our own bouquets.
I took about 10 seconds to say yes, set and date and ask in the SY #everydaystyle community (join here) who would like to join me.
For me it was a chance to try another thing I hadn’t tried before. I’m on a quest to try 12 new things before I turn the big 5-0 in June next year.
So far I’ve revisited Pilates and yoga; tried stand-up paddle-boarding and embraced meditation.
Time to get my creative side pumping.
Francesca’s Flowers holds regular workshops in its studio. You can organise your own for a group or join in one that has been scheduled.
In our workshop we learned out to prep and create a bouquet of flowers using the the Straussing technique, where all of stems face one direction so the flowers don’t crush.
I didn’t even know this was a thing. Apart from protecting the flowers, this stem arrangement really does look fantastic in a vase.
A Strauss bouquet is designed so the stems are all criss crossed at the one point. This is achieved by placing the stems at 45 degrees (rather than straight up and down as I’ve always done!) as you bring individual flowers into the bouquet.
How to create a bouquet of flowers
(as shared with us by the amazing Francesa!)
1. Be organised. You need to prep everything first before you attempt to put together a bouquet.
2. Start by removing the leaves from the stem of the bottom two-thirds of each flower. Any flowers with a low Y-shape in the stem need to have that extra stem removed or the flowers will get crushed.
3. Take guard petals off any roses in the bouquet. Wire roses so that they keep their height.
4. Choose about three-four different variety of flowers in complementing or contrasting shades.
5. Choose two different foliages for inclusion in the bouquet. This kind of bouquet is all about the lush – “flowers need foliage”.
6. Stop for cake and tea or coffee or Champagne. Love that Francesca’s Flowers is also a purveyor of scrumptious goodies.
7. Start with a primary flower in your left hand and create triangles with steams at a 45 degree angle around the primary flower. With your right hand, work in threes, rotating your bouquet around as you work to keep the circle of flowers growing.
8. Once the bouquet is complete, cut flower stems on an angle, this gives greatest surface area for flower to get water. A straight-cut stem could otherwise create a suction seal on bottom of the vase.
9. The ideal vase for this type of bouquet is a vase with a wide bottom and smaller neck – a teardrop or mushroom vase.
A big thank-you to Francesca and the wonderful Styling You readers who came along to channel their inner florist. Find out more about the Francesca’s Flowers workshops here.
Have you tried a floristry workshop? Do you buy yourself flowers? Tried anything new in the past month?
Comments 15
Nice post Nikki, I also used to just grab flowers from my garden and cram them into the closest vase on hand 🙂 Thanks for the cool tips! My spring flowers will be blooming soon and I cannot wait to arrange them properly 😉
I definitely want to learn to do this – I currently just hack bits of the garden with secateurs and shove them in whatever jug or vase is handy, and while it looks lovely and wild, it’s not very pretty!
That’s exactly what I used to do!
This is going on the bucket list. I’ve always wanted to know how to put a bouquet of flowers together. I should buy flowers more often but it’s one of those things that you leave off when the budget is tight. My girls often collect flowers from the school run… so I don’t miss out if I don’t buy any myself. x
You could turn those school run flowers into a work of art! x
I have always wanted to learn how to create the perfect bouquet!
I do buy flowers most weeks when I pick up the groceries, I have a fabulous Mikasa cut crystal vase that is thick and heavy and makes even the cheapest bunch of flowers look like a million dollars!
My habit lately has been to buy a small bunch of the same type of flower but ensuring that the colour will compliment what flowers are already at home. That way if any of the older bunch are still good enough to get mixed in with the new bunch, they look like they match on purpose and that sort of symmetry makes my little OCD heart sing 🙂
Agreed – a beautiful vase can make flowers look spectacular.
What a fab morning that was – thank you Nikki and Francesca. It really opened my eyes to the delights of flower arranging and how a few simple tricks can make a amazing difference.
Thanks so much for coming Jacky!
Wow, what a treat! Looks like it was a fabulous day. Doing a floristry workshop is on my bucket list. In my perfect world it would be at Floret Farm in the US. But a local workshop would be a delightful start. I adore flowers and have always tried to have them around. Lately I’ve been using lots of leaves and greenery in vases- I love the look.
Oh YES, that would be amazing!!
Beautiful Nikki, I did a tafe course years ago in floral arrangements and loved it and really enjoyed it! I actually buy flowers most weeks for myself because I love them Xx
I’m glad you do treat yourself Lisa x
Lovely! Never been to a floristry workshop, what a great idea. I love flowers, especially white ones. I do buy myself flowers, like you I had years being single and never thought to buy them myself. My father has a beautiful garden, full of roses and camellias, I never leave without him giving me an armful. Happy Friday! x
I love white flowers too and am never disappointed when I buy them myself x