Wreaths & Bouquets

By Paula Pryke, Photography by Sarah Cuttle, Rizzoli, 2008

This slim yet lavish book can be displayed on a coffee table or enjoyed by the professional florist, the hobbyist or as a gift for anybody who loves flowers. It is full of inspired ideas. A few are:

• a holiday wreath of all calla lilies with the stems curled around the wreath

• bouquets appropriate for formal occasions

• unusual seasonal displays

• natural arrangements made with whatever you can find in winter – twigs, berries, pine cones, orange slices, sticks of cinnamon wrapped with ribbon. (She emphasizes how fragrant flowers like lavender and scented items can add to the experience of a creation.)

The author shows us many creative items she’s made like dinner napkins wrapped in a string of flowers, a table top Advent wreath with candles and even a vegetable wreath with moss, ivy berries, baby corn, parsnips and ornamental kale.

There are a number of lovely wedding ideas using white and off white tulips and lilies. You can never go wrong with white, she says, and it needn’t just be a superstar for weddings. One of my favorite designs is the individual flowers for Christmas dinner guests using snowdrops filled with jasmine and red wire twisted like branches, all placed in shot glasses!

As a hobbyist, I found myself gasping at the beauty of many of these designs, thinking, “I never thought of doing that!” There are ideas for making use of items from your own garden, like a short, clear glass vase with grapes inside and filled with white, cream colored flowers like hydrangeas, roses and small green apples. (There is a trick to how she does this last one, but I will not give it away. You can consult the book for instructions!)

Many of the designs have such recipes, though some are just brief captions to the photos. Perhaps some of the basic compositions are standard in the floral industry, but for those of us just learning it would have been helpful to have more instructions. Also, I realized making wreaths and bouquets could become very expensive unless you’re buying the flowers wholesale and selling the arrangements. That leaves the hobbyist to use flowers from the garden, from the farmers’ market or “fake” flowers. I always thought of artificial flowers as tacky, but you can find really nice ones now made of silk and other fabrics.

Any review of this book must mention the stunning photographs. The combination of dazzling flowers, imaginative designs and exquisite photos make this a beautiful book. It is one you might want to pull out in the dead of winter to boost your mood – that is, if you’re not out foraging for pinecones and berries!

Reviewed by Kathy Parrent, founder and editor of Green Thumb to the Rescue.