green cascade bouquet
This cascade bouquet is made with Bells of Ireland. They have a marvelous long and curvy stem, cupped by miniature circles that closely resemble "bells". Do be careful handling this greenery, as it does have small, hairlike thorns.
You will need the following supplies to create this bouquet:
- 1 Grand Belle Bouquet Holder
- 4-5 stems Bells of Ireland
- 5 Standard Jade Green Roses
- 3 Miniature White Calla Lilies
- 1 stem White Waxflower
- 7 stems Sword Fern
- 6-8 Blades of Bear Grass
- 5 Green Button Mums
- Wood Cowee Picks
- Floralock Adhesive
- Finishing Touch
Begin by securing a bouquet holder in a vase weighted down with rock or marbles. You can also wedge a block of florist foam in the neck of the vase and insert the handle of the bouquet holder down in it.
Allow the holder to "float soak" in water that has been treated with professional flower food. Don't force the holder under the water line, as that could create dry pockets that could wilt some flower stems.
Bells of Ireland tend to have interesting curves to their stems, so use that to advantage when creating your outer framework of greenery for your bouquet.
After beginning with a tall curved piece on the top, I began to cut the greenery between it's joints of bell clusters and creating a circle about the bouquet holder.
Remember that the length of the greenery will in effect determine the size of your bouquet. Your flowers normally would extend slightly beyond the greenery, but in the case of this design the greenery is just as much a focus as the flowers will be.
I continue to fill in the stems on the right side of the bouquet. You can now see a clearly defined graceful cascade and framework around the center of the foam.
The next step is to add Sword Fern to this bridal bouquet design. Also commonly called Shield or Flat fern, this greenery is available year round with varying supplies in the summertime.
I add several long stems down behind the Bell of Ireland that composes the cascade part of the bridal bouquet.
Using shorter tips of the ferns, I round out the green framework with more stems. Notice how I emphasized the natural curve of the top Bell of Ireland stem by extending the fern a little longer as well.
Now that the outer frame of greenery is finished, I beginning cutting more shorter pieces of Bell of Ireland for the center of the bouquet.
Short cut pieces fill in the center quickly. Although you want to cover the mechanics of the bouquet holder, don't pack it so tightly that you can't get in your other flowers.
Using Cowee picks, I now created loops of bear grass and inserted them into the lower right of the bouquet. Create more bundles of the grass on Cowee picks and insert them straight without loops. (Hint: you can substitute wooden skewers if necessary).
Isn't amazing that you don't have a single flower in this bridal bouquet design, yet it is already beautiful and flowing with just the greens.
