Bouquet of the Week: Bang For Your Buck
As part of our recurring Bouquet of the Week series, Garden Collage continues to present a weekly inspirational bouquet that incorporates intriguing new elements into the traditional practice of flower arranging. This week, Garden Collage styles a bouquet that celebrates spring for under $25.
It’s hard not to be seduced by the effervescence of spring. Suddenly, the plants are in bloom and there is an abundance flowers on every corner, stuffed into containers of all sizes and in places you wouldn’t expect. Even the smallest bodega has a few roses outside, carefully gathered in cool water and usually gone by the end of the day.
At florists, this atmosphere is amplified. There is an intoxicating, exhilarating quality to walking through a flower shop in the springtime– after the barrenness of winter and the slow beginning spring, it is difficult to resist indulging. As you move between the flowers, you find yourself picking up a little of this and little of that, until you can barely fit your hands around all the stems and you seem to be drowning in all the delicate scents, your arms heavy with the weight of so many different blooms. It is like entering a fervor, a glimpse at the sublime the Romantics cherished so deeply– thrilling and invigorating.
Until they ring you up.
Making a bouquet that feels luxurious but is still affordable is a difficult thing– especially with all the temptations of spring on display. As a recent college grad, this is a dilemma I encounter frequently. In honor of spring and saving money, I decided to style a bouquet using flowers that offer a maximum return for a minimal price.
I made my purchases selectively– I always look for one flower to center my bouquet on, usually something a little more unusual (like ginger flower or bird of paradise). In this case, it was the tall gladiolus ($4), which I purchased directly from a florist (it’s not only difficult to find such a flower anywhere else, but being that I only needed one, I didn’t want to purchase a whole bunch). At the florist I also invested in two stems of lisianthus ($3.50 a stem)– also a little more uncommon, but a worthwhile investment, as they come with around six open blooms per stem. Lastly, I bought a single stem of eucalyptus ($1) from the florist (a little bit goes a long way).
From the florist I walked to a nearby grocery store, whose entry way was surrounded by small bunches of more common flowers. There I bought a bundle of white and pink alstroemeria ($6) and a bundle of fragrant lilacs ($6) to fill out the arrangement. All told, the bouquet came out to under $25. Not a bad price for this much color!
