Eight Steps to Making a Garden Rose Bouquet

A decent rose bouquet from the florist costs $150 upwards while a garden rose bouquet made with your own hands costs very little especially if you are fortunate to have your own rose garden. With a little bit of creativity and innovation, you can have a beautiful bouquet of roses in no time.

1. Cut roses in the early mornings or when dusk falls as they cannot withstand the afternoon heat and will wither soon. Make a clean cut at a 45 deg angle with a good pair of shears.

2. Immediately put the roses in a vase half-filled with fresh cool water. Submerge the stems about half way. Add one teaspoon of a preservative like hydrogen peroxide to the water to keep the roses fresh.

3. Take the roses out of the water the night before you need the bouquet. Use a thorn stripper to remove the thorns. Remove all the leaves from the bottom of the stems. Strip away all wilted petals taking care not to touch the good ones.

4. Keep sufficient floral wire handy. Take about four to five roses holding them by the stems just under the roses and wrap tight with floral wire and cover with floral tape. Surround this bunch with four or five more roses and again tie with floral wire. Keep adding roses till you reach the size you are comfortable with.

5. Add green ferns around the roses and secure with floral wire and tape.

6. Trim the bottom of the stems to even them out or if you would rather retain the fresh garden rose look, leave the stems splayed and uneven.

7. Wrap the stems with satin ribbon. Match the ribbon with the roses. Ensure that the ribbon covers the handle and is carefully secured with a pin.

8. Spray the bouquet with fresh water and store in a cool place.

Stick to single color roses unless you are confident of matching different colors. Good matches are peach with pink, yellow with blue, and you can safely match white with almost any color.

If it's your wedding bouquet, you can add a small piece of jewelry or trinket to the handle of the bouquet. Try to match it with the jewelry you are wearing otherwise it will appear discordant. If your wedding dress is white, match the roses in your bouquet to the color of your bridesmaids' dress.

Anthony Glover is passionate about roses and rose gardening. His website has a broad range of information on everything from making a garden rose bouquet to rose gardening tips.