How to make a hand-tied bouquet – a step-by-step guide

If you’ve received a gift wrap of flowers and want them to look as fabulous in the vase as they do in their packaging – or indeed, even better – follow this handy hand-tie how-to guide.

It shows a slight prejudice to right-handed people, but if you’re a southpaw, we’re sure you’ll be smart enough to switch things ’round where necessary.

Step 1: Choosing the flowers
Choose a selection of ‘leggy’ stiff-stemmed beauties (roses, curcumas and peonies are our favourites, but gerberas look great, too) and some sprays of foliage to match (eucalyptus, salal and bupleurum work a treat).

For beginners, we recommend choosing about two varieties each of flowers and foliage, e.g. 12 roses and 12 trachelium stems, and a whole heap of eucalyptus and salal. You’ll also need about a metre of sisal, twine or string, and a sturdy pair of scissors.

Step 2: Preparing the flowers
Pull of excess leaves, twigs and thorns, so that the bottom 70 per cent or so of each stem is bare. This creates a natural point where your bouquet will be tied, and ensures there will be no leaves below the vase’s waterline that will rot and cause bacteria to develop.

Step 3: Biggy in the middle
Hand-ties are built up from the centre, and spiral outwards. Start by taking a clump of mixed foliage (5 or 6 stems) in your left fist.

Close your thumb around them, just below the point where the leaves end. Then insert your focal flower (the biggest usually looks best) into the middle.

Step 4: Taking the first turn
Loosen your thumb grip enough to add a flower stem to the outside of your leafy cluster. Clasp your thumb again, and, using your right hand, turn the bunch about half an inch.

Loosen your thumb grip again, and add about 5 stems of foliage, crossing the new stem cluster at an angle over the others. Close your thumb and twist the bunch another half an inch to the right.

Step 5: Going in circles
Now, just repeat the process in step 4, building up your bouquet with flowers and foliage alternatively.

Each stem or stem cluster should be added so it crosses the others at an angle of about 30 degrees. If you’re careful to add each at the same height, and twist in regular intervals, the bottoms of the stems should fan out into a defined circular shape.

Step 6: Add a ruff
If your bouquet is going to go in a vase, you can create a practical and attractive collar by adding an outer ring of salal stems using the same twist-and-add method described above.

Step 7: The ties that bind
By this stage, your fist is probably stretched to its limit. Take the length of sisal or string in your right hand and insert it under your thumb, so that about 10 cm is hanging down with the stems. Using your right hand, wind the string tightly in a clockwise direction around the stems, just above where you’ve been holding (below the flower heads).

Move your left hand down a little at each turn, so that you eventually have a tight girdle of twine about 2 cm high wrapped around the stems. Tie a tight knot.

Step 8: Trim and grin
Trim the ends of the stems to the same height – the length is up to you, but think about proportional balance and the height of your vase before you get too carried away in either direction.

And voila! That’s it, your very own hand-tie.

Tags: flowers, hand-tie, gift wrap, bouquet, flower arranging