Simple Hand-tied Bouquet

 We planted our first cutting garden this season!  Here is a photo that was taken in June a couple weeks after planting.

We are happy to announce that it is producing flowers!

I headed into the garden because I wanted to put together some hand-tied bouquets.

We purchased some seed this winter, this is one of the many cool things we planted... cut flower Kale.

Some other things we planted... statice, celosia cockscomb, cosmos, gomphrena, zinnia, dahlia and sunflowers.

The first step in assembling a hand-tied bouquet is remove all of the foliage that would be submerged in water.

Next take your first two stems and and cross one over the other.

Continue adding flowers and crossing them over the last.

Rotate the grouping to get to a spot without flowers and keep adding to the bouquet.  Continue to rotate and fill until the bouquet is complete.

I like to use raffia to tie bouquets together.  It has a clean but rustic look...very pretty.

Make a knot right at the bottom of the leaves.  Be careful not to tie to tight or too high.  I like a simple firm knot.

Take into consideration the size of your bouquet when cutting the stems.  My bouquet is small so I am cutting them fairly short.

Snip ends off in a clean cut.  Watch out for sleeping pugs below!!

There is something about a bouquet of fresh cut flowers in the summer that I love love!  It is a perfect little gift to give to someone...

Place your bouquet in a container of water and enjoy!