Hand-Tied Garden Rose Bouquet

Video Transcription 

Garden roses make a wonderful spiral bouquet, and a spiral bouquet makes a grand gift for Valentine's Day. At Flower School .com, this is one of our favorite techniques to share with you. 

The roses, everything from GardenRosesDirect.com, and I picked wonderful Valentine colors. I have Tess in the red, then Kiara in this blush pink, and then Ashley in the darker pink. As I prepared them, I removed the lower leaves, making sure that the stems were bare, so that they're ready to go and I hydrated them overnight so that they're fully hydrated, starting to open, and ready to design with. The foliage, same thing. Removing the lower leaves and then getting the ruscus ready for designing. 

To begin the bouquet, pick some of your largest, most beautiful blooms, because that will be the center of your bouquet. So an Ashley, Kiara, and going ahead and adding one of the Tess, so I get that cluster of three. Then lining up some of the foliage. I'm just placing everything into my hands all at once. Then once I have that base, when you're working in a spiral fashion, it's just a matter of holding, adding, twisting. Holding, adding, twisting. Sounds super easy. Sometimes it doesn't feel easy. Head to one side. Turn. Bring in another bloom. Turn. Maybe a little bit more foliage and another bloom. Tucking it into my hand. Again, making sure that the leaves stay above of my hand, then coming around and just thinking about foliage and colors, mixing and matching and then turning. You can combine, maybe putting a little more red together there and then another pink and turning. As long as you always put the head the same direction and radiate outward, it will work to a perfect spiral. 

As I finish, I think again about the colors, so that they space them out well. Making sure I've got some of the lighter, maybe even another. Watching the stems and the placement. Turning. As I work, I can always give it a little tuck, but mostly everything just stays in place. Once you master this technique, you'll find it's one of the fastest, easiest ways to make bouquets and it actually works with almost every single flower. When you're close and you think you're done, take a look in the mirror. Double check that everything is right where you want it. Give a little tug here and there, maybe adding in another bloom. Then using fatsia, creating a collar around the base, tucking them in. And again, twisting, angling, doing the exact same thing that I did with the flowers, but finishing it off with a foliage collar. 

Now, just using bind wire, wrapping it snugly above my hand, making sure to hold everything in place and twisting the ends together. Once you have it secured, you can go back, cut all your stems, making sure they'll be the same length to set into the vase. At that point you can wrap it in tissue, ready for gifting, or drop it into a vessel of water. 

Tess, Kiara, and Ashley, perfect roses for the Valentine season. GardenRosesDirect.com has so many amazing colors and they're available year-round, it's so wonderful. You'll have to check them out. You'll find more creative inspiration on our website, Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there, but for now it's your turn. What are you going to create using your favorite garden roses? Be sure to take a picture, post it on social media, and hashtag Floral Design Institute. That way, we all can see what you do as you do something you love.