Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Be Your Own Florist- Making Homemade, Free Bouquets

 photo IMG_0004_zps7c9ff85b.jpgYesterday, my 2 year old, Anneliese needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air, so I decided to leave the sleeping baby with my husband and go on a short, quick walk with my daughter. While we were walking, I noticed the abundance of beautiful flowers and foliage growing on a path near my house. I thought that they would make a beautiful bouquet, would work terrifically to add some spring cheer into my house.

I really like flowers, and I especially enjoy flowers and beautiful foliage in my house. I feel a vase filled with flowers enlivens a room, transforms it from dull to enchanting. When my husband comes home with a bouquet of flowers for me, it really makes me smile, and for days, I enjoy its beauty in my home.
That said, my husband doesn't buy me flowers often. It gets very expensive. Especially since flowers only last for a short while until they wilt and die...

Making my own bouquet allows me to have the benefits of flowers decorating my house, without needing to lay out large amounts of money.


I went back into my house, took out some scissors and a vase, and started taking cuttings and filling it.

I pretty much only took short branches from flowering trees and bushes, plus some flowerless branches for foliage. While the red leaves that I put in my bouquet aren't exactly flowers, they add a lot of color and nice texture to the mix.

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I wanted a big bouquet. I could have stopped with something smaller, but there was something about me that wanted big and bold at the moment.

While bouquets of just one or two types of flowers can be nice, I decided that, since I, for the most part, wasn't using "stereotypically beautiful" flowers, I wanted to have many, many types of flowers and branches, so that the beauty would be in the diversity of the foliage- in shapes, colors, textures, and sizes.


I can't tell you the names of all the plants in my case, but I can name some of them- redbud blossoms, cherry plum leaves, pomegranate leaves, and rosemary leaves. If anyone else knows any of the names of the other foliage in the picture, I'm happy to learn more names.

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I realize that this type of bouquet isn't to everyone's taste- use your own taste to make your own bouquet that you enjoy most, paying attention to how the combinations of colors, shapes, and textures work best.

I love how the bouquet turned out. Quite honestly, I think I like it better than many store bought bouquets I've seen. I love how it transforms my plain old wooden table. And the price was certainly right!

Are you a fan of flowers? Do you ever buy flowers for decoration? Grow your own to use to decorate? Or go out into nature and pick your own foliage to make into a bouquet?

19 comments:

  1. beautiful! and without any of the pesticides used on store bought flowers!

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  2. This is my favorite kind of bouquet...mixed wild flowers and such! Good job, Penny! Hope it added emotional and physical vibrancy to your home!

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  3. Beautiful and so colorful. I like you, love a variety in a bouquet. Sure wish we could pick something like this, this time of year here.
    Still too much snow

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  4. We love sweet peas, but they tend to make us sneeze, so we can't bring them into the house anymore. Zinnias are lovely, easy to grow, and less allergenic. And mint makes a nice, fragrant bouquet, and the leaves will grow back quickly, especially in the summer.

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  5. Really pretty! :) I love lupin flowers but I'm horribly allergic to pollen. I have stickers of flowers so close enough lol!

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  6. It looks really nice! I would put this kind of bouquet in my home, too!
    Sana

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  7. Are the big pink flowers bauhinias? I didn't think they were flowering yet

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    1. I didn't know the name, but I googled it, and bauhinias it is. Or thats what it seems to be! Thanks for the name!

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  8. Hi Penny,
    The little fuzzy yellow balls at the front with the slender leaves are a beautiful native Australian plant called Mimosa or Wattle. I remember them well from my childhood in Sydney and was surprised to see them in your bouquet! Enjoy! Becky

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    1. Cool! Thanks for teaching me more about the plants in my area! :-D

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  9. My flowering shrubs are late this year. I cut some forsooth branches and put them in water inside. That forced them to bloom.

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  10. Thank you! In the summer not much to pick here. Now's prime picking season locally.

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  11. Looks like your 2 yr old made it.

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    1. Seriously? Why even comment...or at least "own" your comment, Anon.

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  12. Lovely bouquet, but I hope you're not overworking yourself. You just had a baby a week ago!

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  13. lovely, but I'm terrified of bugs. I can never tell if my husband is joking about me being a gardener.

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  14. Oh! What a beautiful bouquet! As long as we are careful about not damaging the bushes this is a wonderful way to decorate your home. I usually make a colorful bouquet from the rose bushes across the street from my home.

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