Making a spring buttonhole
Spring couldn’t arrive soon enough for me.
The first plants out of the ground are the tiny yellow Aconites and then the snowdrops but I find that both flowers aren’t very good out of water and so they are pretty useless for flower arranging. The flower that I wouldn’t be without in spring is the hellebore. Hellebores are so reliable and they produce a wonderful flower which lasts well. Although, you will need to wait until the seed head has formed on the flower or it will wilt very quickly when it’s cut (even if it’s in water).
Hellebores are great as the main focal flower for the wedding buttonholes. Below I’ve given you a step by step approach to making a spring buttonhole.
Firstly, have a look in your garden for foliage that might be suitable ( you can test it in water to see how it hold up). In this example, I’ve picked the early leaves of the Philadelphus (the Mock Orange plant with heavily scented white flowers ) , some stems of oriental Cherry and a few sprigs of Rosemary.
Snip small stems of each plant or flower and place them on your table top in a row.
Then take the Hellebore and place a tall straight piece such as the Rosemary at the back and the Philidelphus at the front. You are aiming to frame the focal flower and make the Hellebore the star of the show. The other stems of foliage are there to add textural interest .
Once you’ve added the foliage, including the cherry stems, bind the top of the stem with green tape (Stemtex) . I’d advise you use the paper version of this product and not the plastic one and the plastic is not bio degradable and doesn’t look very natural.
Leave the stems sticking out the end of the buttonhole. To make it look finished I would advise wrapping a piece of twine or rafia and finish with a small bow. Make sure you cover all the green tape.
I would advise keeping the buttonhole with its feet in water until the time it’s needed. When it’s time to use them , just take them out of the water, dry them off and recut the ends.
All you need to add is the lapel pins, two, just in case!