ROUND AND SHOWER BOUQUETS. 



3+9 



round (Fig. 199) and shower bouquets, the stems of the flowers boing drawn through 

 just where they are wanted; but the expert florist disponsos with all such aids. For a 

 round bouquet a light stem is used for binding the flowers to as they aro added, a little 

 moss packed among the stems fixing tho flowers in the direction required. The novice, 

 however, is advised to bind a firm wad of dry moss, say 3 inches through, to the top of 

 a stick a little stouter than an ordinary lead pencil and about one foot in length. The 

 wire-stems should be passed through the moss, and tho ends either twisted round 

 the stick or bound tightly with fine string, and in this way it is possible to arrange the 

 flowers as lightly as desired. A thin foundation of the cheaper kinds of white flowers 

 is frequently formed, and 

 springing out of them more 

 elegant and choicer flowers. 

 Maiden - hair fern fronds 

 form pleasing foundations, 

 but for a short time only, 

 as the fern soon shrivels 

 and exposes the wired- 

 stems. Spikes of Lily of 

 the Valley, Eoman hya- 

 cinths, orchids, single 

 blooms or buds of roses, 

 carnations, pancratiums, 

 and pips of stephanotis 

 (also fern fronds), are the 



Fig. 199. Round Bouquet. 



most effective when stand- 

 ing out clearly from the other flowers. Sometimes long trails of asparagus, with a 

 few light flowers wired to them, are prepared and attached; the bouquets may then 

 be described as a combination of the two styles — round and shower. 



Shower bouquets are more difficult to make. Not, however, if abundance of long 

 spikes of odontoglossums, oncidiums, phalamopses, and other orchids are available, as 

 it is scarcely possible to make a mistake with these. Some idea of the most popular 

 form can be gained by reference to Fig. 200 ; but some shower bouquets, notably 

 those exhibited for prizes, are larger and bolder in outline, the material for them 

 costing large sums of money. The beginner is advised not to attempt fastening flowers 



