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From macaroni necklaces to hand-lettered cards covered in glitter, mom always liked the presents you made best, so surprise her this Mother’s Day with a handmade bouquet you put together yourself using materials readily available from the grocery store floral aisle or your own backyard. These three bouquets can be matched to suit your mom’s style and preferences while giving her the pleasure of knowing you made it just for her.
The “Oh honey, don’t go to any trouble” Mom
She knows you’re busy and doesn’t want anyone to make a fuss out of Mother’s Day, but it takes less than five minutes to unwrap a bunch of alstroemeria and iris and stick them in a vase. Choose yellow or orange alstroemeria to offset the purple iris and cut them slightly shorter to allow the irises to stand out 2-3 inches above. A medium height glass vase with a a ribbon at the top will brighten her day and will cost less than $15 to put together yourself.
The Nature Lover Mom
Long hikes or time spent in the garden can be recaptured with a bouquet gathered from outside and mixed with a few floral stems. May is the perfect time to gather flowering branches of bright pink redbud (Cirsus canadensis) and golden yellow forsythia. Mix these with greens trimmed from the yard or with myrtle or salal from your florist and add peonies or lilacs picked from outside or the floral cooler, where they’ll be at their peak this May. Trim the vase with a bit of raffia or twine and make a card out of a package of her favorite seeds.
The “Less is More” Mom
A little goes a long way, mom always said. Perhaps she was referring to make-up at the time, but the clean, simple lines of a simple arrangement will speak volumes. Creating a sophisticated look with only one or two stems can be challenging and takes a bit of an eye for design. Generally, the best combination will be one tall, straight stem, one rather curled or curling stem and one that trails down, which loosely follows a principle of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. Good straight stems include the bird of paradise, spider mum or anthurium, while curling stems such as bells of Ireland, curly willow or kangaroo paw create complexity and form. Finish with a trailing piece of ivy trimmed from outside or pepperberry and green or red amaranthus from an upscale florist, and don’t forget the card full of glitter.
