Floral Archives - Poppytalk

Let Spring In! Forcing Branches

Jan Halvarson — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 03:32:00 +0000

Whenever I get the winter blues, I always like heading outdoors, braving the cool air, hopping on my bike and looking for wild botanical branches I can bring inside and force a little spring. Recently I came across some quince branches (Chaenomeles speciosa) with buds and brought a few inside. Quince, along with Forsythia is one of the first blossoms that happen here in the Pacific Northwest, and which I can usually find mid February. I love their white and salmon-coloured blooms which always bring new hope to what can be a very grey month here.

The process to force any spring branch is so simple, and it only takes about 3 to 5 days for the buds to begin to pop open. Here’s how I force mine.

Step 1.
Once you bring the branches inside, give them a fresh snip (a longer diagonal cut seems to work best).

Step 2.
Using a mallot, or perhaps a heavier heel of a shoe, smash the bottom of the branch where you just snipped, to open up the branch to allow water to be pulled through them quicker.

Step 3.
Place in vase filled with fresh water.

Step 4.
Wait. In 3 to 5 daysor so, the buds should begin to pop open!

Replace the water every couple of days and your blossoms should last for quite a bit of time (between 10 to 14 days. This process can be done with any type of spring blossoming branch.

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DIY Bouquet Wrap

Jan Halvarson — Wed, 06 May 2015 06:39:00 +0000

Contributor post by Caitlin of The Merrythought

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and coming up with a personal gift that moms and grandmas will like can be a challenge sometimes. Here’s a way to add a personal touch to a traditional gift that anybody can make – even the kiddos can get involved in this project! Use some white or kraft paper to create a personal bouquet wraps for a lovely mama in your life!

Materials needed:
-Roll of packing paper or art paper
-Scissors
-Paint & paint brush and/or Sharpies
-Washi tape or string

How to make it:
-Cut out a square piece of paper. (I cut mine 20″x20″ – adjust according the the bouquet size.)
-Paint or draw on desired pattern and let dry.
-Fold paper following pictured instructions.
-Wrap around bouquet and use a piece of washi tape or string to secure.

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DIY Shamrock Floral Crown

Jan Halvarson — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 17:36:00 +0000

(Editor’s note:) Last year Erick and Emily of Heidi’s Bridge created this pretty shamrock crown for the blog, and to celebrate green day we thought it would be fun to bring it back for those wanting to celebrate in style:

When we first think of St. Patrick’s day, a wave of fluorescent green shamrocks and rainbow chotskies first come to mind. If you’re Irish (or just pretending for the holiday), one is faced with the challenge of being festive without wearing a tacky green getup. We devised this shamrock floral crown with the classy Irish lass in mind–because if you’re crammed into a dive bar with sticky floors, you might as well do it in style.

Materials
A few stems of white wax flower
A bunch of baby’s breath
Two small pots of shamrocks aka clover (they usually carry these plants in garden supply stores or grocery stores around the holiday)
Green floral wire
Scissors

Directions

1.) The first thing you want to do is to make a ring the size of your head out of the woody wax flower stem. This hardy flower will form the base of the crown that we add the baby’s breath and the shamrocks to. To make the ring, you will need to affix two stems of the wax flower together with your floral wire, taking care to avoid wiring over the delicate flowers on the stem as your wrap them together.

2.) Now that you have an elongated wax flower stem, it’s time to form your ring. Gently bend the wax flower stem clockwise into a ring. Measure on your head to see how large you need the ring to be and pinch with your fingers when adjusted to size. Then, wire the ends closed so that you have a strong ring base.

3.) Once you have a ring for your crown, you need to start making “mini bouquets” of baby’s breath and shamrocks. To do this, pinch together sprays of baby’s breath and shamrock between your thumb and forefinger. Then, wrap the floral wire around the stems to make a “mini bouquet”. Before you snip the wire, leaving about and inch and a half tail of the wire (this will be how you attach the bouquet to the crown.)

4.) Time to start adding the “mini bouquets” of baby’s breath to the crown. Starting from the left and working right, use the wire “tail” that you left on to affix the mini bouquets to the crown. As you add the mini bouquets to the crown, make sure you are hiding the floral wire with flowers. Keep adding until you have desired look of your crown–we opted to only add flowers to the front of the crown so it wasn’t overwhelming, but you can add flowers around the whole ring if you like.

5.) Snip any of the baby’s breath stems that are poking out and any other stray flowers.

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DIY Flower Incense Bundle

Jan Halvarson — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 04:56:00 +0000

Contributor post by Emily and Erick of Heidi’s Bridge

Now that winter has finally settled in, that means below-freezing temperatures and grey skies are the norm in the Northeast. Although we cozy up to steaming mugs of tea and thick socks to beat the chill, our thoughts are of a warm spring breeze and flowers beneath our feet. To combat the winter doldrums, we made this DIY Flower Incense Bundle to remind us of sunnier days ahead.

You Will Need:
Assorted Dried Flowers: Lavender, Rose Petals, Safflower, Calendula flowers, Chamomile buds
Honey (or water)
Charcoal stick
Bamboo sticks, cut to 4 inches
Wax paper
Dried Lavender Stems
Palo Santo
Kitchen twine

Directions:
1. Add a 1 tsp of each flower into mortar and pestle and mix together. Grind flowers with mortar and pestle until they are small granules.

2. Using pestle, grind about 3 tsp of charcoal into mortar with ground flowers.
3.Slowly add honey into other ingredients until it forms a putty that can be formed around the bamboo sticks. Add more honey if mixture is too crumbly and more herb powder if too sticky. Note: This will be messy so do this step over a surface that is easy to wipe down.

4. Let the charcoal sticks dry on wax paper a few days until completely dry.

5. Once charcoal incense sticks are dry, it’s time to make your incense bundles. Bundle two sticks with a small piece of palo santo and a sprig or two of dried lavender. Tie together with kitchen twine and enjoy!

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Fall Floral Garland

Jan Halvarson — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:29:00 +0000

Contributor post by Emily + Erick of Hello Home Shoppe

Recently, we went on a beautiful autumn walk and were inspired to make a garland from all the wildflowers and acorns we gathered on the way. After we realized that the wildflowers don’t stay very long out of water, we decided instead to incorporate one of fall’s most abundant (and hearty) flowers into our garland–the mum!

While it seems as though mums grace every porch this time of year, this is a playful way to pay homage fall’s favorite flower. We also like mums because they’re sturdy and hold up longer than most flowers, even when they dry out. While we suggest mums, have fun customizing your garland with whatever you have on hand, it’s half the fun!

Things You’ll Need

Mums, in assorted colors
Acorns
Needle + Thread
Awl, or an electric drill

Directions
1.) Pick the mums off of your plant and decide which pattern you’ll be arranging them in. (We choose to arrange them in an ombre gradient starting with deep red fading into yellow.)
2.) Using your awl–or if you’re less rudimentary then us, your electric drill–hammer/drill holes in your acorns.You will want to do this on top of a wooden block.
3.) Measure out about four feet of thread. Double thread your needle and tie a large knot at what will become the end of your knot.
4.) Begin stringing your garland together. Using your needle, simply thread right through the center of the flower, back to front. When you get to the acorns, thread through the holes you made with your awl or drill. Repeat in whatever pattern you desire.

Note: Our garland follows the following pattern: gradient of our flowers red to yellow followed by small acorn, large acorn, small, large, small, then another gradient of flowers. Repeat. However feel free to create your own!

5.) When you come to the end of your garland, tie another large knot to secure the garland closed.

Enjoy!

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