Even in the depths of winter it's amazing how teaming the limited number of British flowers we have available with elements from your garden can give you a wonderful seasonal buttonhole.
Here we will show you a simple tutorial on how to construct a naturally inspired buttonhole in the style of The Garden Gate Flower Company.
Start by gathering together your flowers and foliage. Its good to have a colour palette in mind and consider varying textures that work well together. We have chosen some wonderfully scented Daphne to feature in this buttonhole.
The leaves on a Daphne can be quite overpowering and hide the sweetly scented flowers so we recommend removing them carefully.
Think about what your focal flower is going to be in this case we have used rannunculas.
Cut all your ingredients to a similar lengths and strip down the stems so they are free of foliage.
For the foliage we have chosen abelia, which will pick up the pale pink in the rannunclus and mimosa which has the softest appearance and a wonderful texture.
Start by layering your main foliage and any woody items to the back of your buttonhole, this creates a good back drop for your focal flower and that little wild element which will be the abelia.
Add in your focal flower, in this case Rannunclus and any wild elements. Bind the buttonhole with soft floral tape. Ensure the tape is dry, stretch the tape as you bind and the paper becomes slightly sticky and will then hold together.
Using simple jute twine you can wrap a collar around the buttonhole covering the sticky floral tape. Ensure your twine sits high up under the flowers giving them a little extra support.
Trim the jute twine and leave the stems long so you can store them in little jars of water until you need them. Ensure none of the twine touches the water as it does act like a sponge drawing the water in.
We hope you have fun trying out some winter buttonhole combinations.
A big thank you to our dear friends Taylor & Porter, Fine Art Film Photographers for capturing our work so beautifully.
All images copyright of Taylor & Porter Fine Art Film Photographers
British Rannunclus grown by B J Richards
