Hello everyone!
Today I would like to start a new column and show you some simple tricks to make nicer bouquets at home. The first trick I would like to show you today comes from Japan and is primarily used for the traditional Japanese floral arrangements called Ikebana.
A kenzan, also called spiky frog or flower frog is a specific metallic device used for fixing the flowers in the container. It consists of a heavy lead plate with erected brass needles where the stems are fixed. You can find them on amazon for example and they cost between 3 and 30 € depending on their size.
A kenzan is perfect for arranging bouquets in shallow vases such as bowls or small pedestal vases. It helps keeping flowers with very short stems in the water.
It is a very nice to arrange flowers on a table for dinner party for example, so that you can for instance see the person sitting in front of you. It also works very well if you want to create a vignette on a table in living room.
For this bouquet, I decided to mix peonies with garden roses, as I think that they really work well together.
Your bouquet step by step:
1- Place the Kenzan at the bottom of the vase and fill the vase with water.
2- Cut the stems very short and take out almost all the leaves.
3- Pick the flowers one by one in the vase, so that the bouquet is pleasant to look from all sides. (especially if it is for a table centre).
So that's it for today people! I hope you liked this little floral DIY and that you will get yourself a little kenzan for your next bouquet. Have a great day! Elodie