Lily’s and greens make an entrance grand…

Hearty, fragrant greens can easily be found in the backyard or local markets this time of year, they can make a festive foundation for stunning, long~lasting holiday bouquets.

These bouquets are actually quite easy to make and maintain. I’m sure we will still be enjoying the blended scents of the Casa blanca lily’s, fir, pine and cedar well into the New Year, and you can too, I’ll show you how.

I made 2 different arrangements on this scale using the Splendid 3-step bouquet method. I’ll show you how I did it, step~by~step. I know many of you have seen this method for creating lush, full, natural arrangements here before, but I like to reiterate it because it really works with any size or shape of container. If this is new to you click on Small Centerpieces to see some of the more petite versions and click on Bouquets in a Box, to see how it worked in a wooden box. Of course, every bouquet will be unique and you should always feel free to use your favorite flowers. I would love to see any of your creations, maybe share them on Instagram #splendidflowers

Step 1

The Greens

The greens are the natural framework for the bouquet, use them to create the general shape you’d like to see.  Their woody stems also create the support structure for the flowers. They don’t need to look completely symmetrical because you will be using flowers to fill in the open spaces. After filling this tall, glass vase with a coppery wash with fresh, cold water and some floralife I trimmed the ends of these fir and pine boughs, removed any smaller branches or needles that would be beneath water level and arranged them in the vase.

I especially loved this bough that has these sweet little pinecones.

In this clear footed vase I used all Princess Pine Boughs, I love that brushy look and that soft grayish shade of green.

To conceal the woody stems I slid some sprigs of cedar between the glass and the stems, it adds to that evergreen look.

Step 2

The Flowers

I love the crisp, fresh look of green and white flowers this time of year, but you should feel free to add some red roses or maybe use colorful Tiger Lily’s if you’d like a bolder look. Here, these bouquets look very green but each one of these buds will soon burst open to reveal giant, white stars and emit their ethereal fragrance {see the top image, taken a few days after the bouquet was made}.

Each of the bouquets has 5 hearty stems of Lilium Casa Blanca (each with 4-5 plump buds}. There are about 18 long-stem creamy white and green  Tineke’s roses {Global Rose will ship them to you next-day}, in each bouquet. These can also be found at wholesale florists and often times in grocery stores.

Step 3

The Final Touch

Once the flowers are in place, I like to add a little something more, something unique, maybe unexpected, to add another dimension to the bouquet. To the arrangement in the coppery vases I added several of these verdant, bulbous poppy pods.

To the bouquet in the crystal vase I added more crystals.

These are old chandelier crystals I bought at the Monday market at the Cours Salaya in Nice, France to decorate our tree {Le Sapin Noël} when we were in Eze for Christmas one year.

They will capture and reflect soft candlelight beautifully on the cold winter evenings to come.

Finally, here are some tips for maintaining these grand bouquets. First of all, you have a bit of power to control the timing of the blooms, if you want them to bloom right away keep them in a warm, bright area; if you want to slow the blooming process, keep them in a cooler, darker place. I like to keep them indoors during the day and evening, but I put mine outside in the courtyard in the evening.

Every situation will be unique, but the roses in this scenerio will probably be the first to go, by that time however, the lilies will probably have opened up and filled out the bouquet with plenty of bold white blooms {see the top image}. You can just pull the roses out once they are past their prime, and then decide if you want to replace them or not.

The orange colored stamens in the lily’s are covered with powdery pollen, which can cause staining. Each day pull off any stamens from lily’s that have opened. Have an extra paper towel with you to put the removed stamens in, then wrap them up and throw them in the trash or yard waste bin. As an extra caution, if you don’t want your fingers to get any orange on them, wear gloves.

Be sure to check the water each day and fill the vases to the top. Changing the water every 3rd day will help to keep them fresh, trimming the ends during this change will make them last even longer. I know this can be difficult with a bouquet of this size. To do this I lift the arrangement out and put it in another similar sized container that will keep the stems in position. Then I clean out the vase and fill it with fresh water and Floralife. Next, I lift up the bouquet, rinse the stems with the sprayer on my sink, cut the flower stems {the evergreens should be fine}, and then ease them back into the fresh water.