Winter bouquets create a unique atmosphere, especially when a snowstorm rages outside and everything seems to freeze in time. You can craft one using branches of fir, pine, and shoots from plants with vibrant berries. All of these can be found while strolling through the city, forest, or grove. Twisted branches of the dogwood with their yellow and orange small fruits, shoots with red rose hips, spiky branches of barberry adorned with carmine earrings of elongated berries, branches of rowan and hawthorn covered in orange clusters, and elderberry branches with glossy black beads, as well as physalis with their orange lanterns hanging along the entire stem. Many people gather branches and fruits for their bouquets as early as autumn. Various stones, bark, rye ears, and an assortment of herbs and pine cones are also suitable for winter arrangements. Even better is to add some dried flowers that you prepared in advance.
When creating a winter bouquet, avoid overcrowding it with too many branches and flowers. One or two branches with an interesting shape are sufficient, especially when paired with bright fruits.
As the New Year approaches, compositions featuring fir or pine branches with cones, combined with 2-3 cyclamen flowers or a cluster of rowan berries, along with two shoots of physalis, are particularly fitting. Such arrangements are best displayed in a low ceramic or flat dark vase.
If you don’t have flowers, consider creating an ikebana with a whimsical pine branch, a small Christmas ornament, and a bright, thick candle, also in a flat dark vase.
The plants in a winter bouquet should vary in height. It’s best to place them in solid-colored vases, preferably majolica or ceramic. If the branches are branched, use a low and wide vase. A bouquet of 1-2 pine branches and a shoot of clematis with fluffy gray fruits is ideally suited for a tall vase in red or light green. A bouquet of white yarrow flowers and lavender flowers from liatris looks stunning in black containers.
To ensure that flat containers are stable and that dried flowers and branches hold firmly, fill them with pebbles, damp sand, moss, or clumps of fine wire. You can also use modeling clay or special metal brushes (sticks).
Some plants are particularly striking when displayed alone. For example, dried flower heads of giant hogweed, quirky shoots of dogwood, or clematis. These plants should be placed in tall, slender vases with narrow necks. In a winter bouquet, tall plants are positioned in the center, while leaning ones surround them. If the bouquet includes sprawling branches, they should be placed in the vase first, followed by the other components.
Small baskets made from birch bark and colorful nylon ribbons filled with dried flowers, such as pansies and marigolds, as well as branches with berries from viburnum, rowan, and others, will also brighten up a room. You can weave the basket with fir branches.
Compositions on dry branches that are uniquely shaped, whimsically curved, with knots or growths, are also lovely. In the center or closer to one end, make a hollow with a knife or chisel. Secure the dried flowers or branches with fruits in it using modeling clay, wire, or similar materials.
You can also decorate the walls of a room with compositions on shelf fungi. Bright branches with fruits or dried flowers can be attached to the fungus just like to a dry branch.
Winter bouquets and compositions uplift the spirit, invigorate, and help us endure the harsh winter weather.