A sudden urge to offer a gift of winter white roses led to an exercise I thought might make an interesting post. I hoped to create a pretty pouf or dome of roses, with a bit of glitz. At first, things went smoothly . . .
The stems were already nicely cleaned. I simply re-cut them under water. Later, I’d cut the rose stems short and remove all the leaves.
Since my garden is in the depths of winter, I knew my only rose source would be Safeway, and I’d better get there early. At 7 a. m. on 12/23, I was happy to find at least 10 bunches of white roses, standing in the floral fridge. Thankfully, shoppers wanted red roses – those were sold out. I purchased two-dozen of the white and a nice bunch of greens.
The prepped roses went into a bucket and were sheltered outside, until the next day.
Here the roses look pretty glamorous and would make a nice gift, or look great in a room just the way they are, but I stuck to my plan.
A wire, with bugle bead gold leaves, forms the base of the crown. Silver leaves and flowers were added.
Beaded leaves and flowers, from several items in one of my treasure boxes, actually inspired the gift idea. I wanted to make a crown and lay it on a base of fir boughs, to circle the roses.
The fir boughs offered many nice laterals for edging the vase.
The vase is a glass cylinder with a six-inch diameter. The fir pieces were cut long enough to cross at the center, and form a web for inserting the roses.
While adding the second dozen roses, I thought – oh no – this is not going to work – I don’t have enough roses! (I should have had three dozen.) Flower arranger’s panic kicked in and I started searching for what else I might add. I grabbed a small lime cedar tree that was on our dining table and began clipping its branches. They were a nice addition, but definitely not enough.
Then my rainy garden beckoned as if saying, “I’ll save you.” I donned my slicker, grabbed a basket and went out and gathered variegated pittosporum, and these sweet, but few, roses: ‘Paquerette’, ‘Marie Pavie’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Honor’, and R. multiflora. Blushing pink, they saved the bouquet.
When the story line changed, I forgot to photograph the sparse floristy creation I concocted. Sorry. However, I did manage to capture the charming mess I made.
My original idea was to trim the vase with a band of white velvet. Again, that didn’t quite work. A bow finally finished the piece. Rescued by my garden, and a velvet bow, the gift turned out better than I originally hoped for. The glitz was subtle, but just right.
