Moody Purple Hand-tied Bouquet
Rich color, soft texture, and a wonderfully moody autumn palette come together in this hand-tied bouquet. In this floral design how-to video, Leanne combines Blueberry roses, purple asters, miniature carnations, eryngium, eucalyptus, grasses, and agonis for a lush bouquet filled with movement and drama.
Video Transcription
Autumn comes in so many hues. Today, looking at the moody hue of purple and all its variations. In a hand tie, it's perfect for the season. Let me show you how it's done.
When choosing the materials, I decided the moody didn't need green, but I did need foliage. So working with eucalyptus, that gray hue will be so much better. As I prep, laying the materials out, and each stem has already been stripped down so that it's ready for use. Then for some intensity, agonis, beautiful chocolate. Again, removing anything low that's going to be below the handle, the hold point, the binding point, then setting it out. Flower-wise, same thing. You want to remove all of the lower foliage, anything that's going to be messy. So it can be as simple as removing the lower buds like such, setting them aside to use another time. Flowers, I've got asters prepped and ready, miniature carnations prepped and ready. And then lastly, some beautiful blueberry roses, all the thorns removed, lower foliage, taking it out and setting it so that you have everything ready to start designing.
To begin, gather a few things in your hand, creating a cluster, a bit of the eucalyptus, a bit of the agonis, maybe some eryngium, and a single rose. And that becomes the start of the bouquet. As you hold it's a finger and a thumb, very loose. So classic hand tie technique. And you can go back and start adding in more agonis, more eucalyptus, coming in at an angle, then turning, removing any leaves that are a little bit low. You don't want those. The aster, maybe a miniature carnation, then turn again and keep adding, always turning, watching the facing of your blooms so that they all line up beautifully and show off. You can do multiple stems before you turn, but then give it a turn and continue adding.
It's easy to adjust. If you want one a little bit taller, give it a tug. One a little shorter, push it in, but you can turn and add, and slightly adjust just by giving it a little bit of a tug. The key is always remembering to place the heads one direction and the stem the opposite so that you're spiraling around, adding in the blooms. You can group things together, maybe two roses, another aster, a little bit more eryngium, then give it a turn. Coming back, eucalyptus, maybe dividing this stem, setting it in, but using it together, it just adjusts the length. The agonis again, turning and add your flowers until you're happy with the placement. It's always good to stop and look in a mirror. That way you can see if you've got everything exactly where you want it. Maybe adding in another aster there, a little more foliage and finish it up.
As I finish, I look at it from all sides, determine where I might need to add in another stem or two for balance, turning it, standing in front of a mirror, tucking and looking and tucking and looking and think, "Ooh, I want that a little taller." Give it a little tug, turning, and then coming back with just the last few blooms, wherever you think you need them to fill in. And the last bits of foliage to finish off the collar.
For a final detail, tucking in a few stems of grasses, just feeding them in between your stems, finding a perfect hole, and then sliding it down through. You can grab it and pull, tucking it, repeating that, adding that little dancing layer over the top.
The recipe to finish it, I did three stems of the Grasses. For the base, Eucalyptus and Agonis. The flowers, I used five stems of the Eryngium, nine asters, nine Miniature Carnations, and nine Blueberry Roses. So now I just need to use bind wire, lash it together, give it a twist, and then cut the stems to be finished.
With it tied off and the stems cut, it's ready to set down into your favorite vessel, filled with fresh water and flower food, and ready to enjoy for days and days. You'll find more creative inspiration on the website, flowerschool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there, but now it's your turn. Find your favorite moody hues, create a hand tie, be sure to take a picture, post on social media and #FloralDesignInstitute so we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
