Tuesday, December 1, 2009

How to Make Fresh Herbal Boutineers, Corsages and Decorations



Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs for the holidays. I have been wanting a potted Rosemary Christmas tree for a couple years, but my bushes are still too small. I'm still growing up and trimming my little Rosemary bushes. In the meantime I've been having fun making fun little Rosemary ornaments, and last night I made a boutineer. You can make these kinds of arrangements with other herbs as well. I've just been having fun with rosemary and red pepper which we have in excess in the Fair Share Garden right now.

If you would like to try making fresh herbal ornaments like these or corsages and boutineers you just need a few tools. You will need wire snips, florist tape and florist wire. You can get these from a craft store.


I choose herbs with fairly sturdy stems, but you can also use herbs with more delicate stems if you wrap them together with sturdy stemmed herbs. Strip the foliage from the bottom inch or 2 of the stem.



Poke a hole through the the green tender part of the herb stem and wrap the wire around the stem to stabilize it.




Stretch the tape and start wrapping it tightly at the base of the plant and continue down to the end of the wire.



Once you have the stems wraps you can combine them together however you wish. Finish by wrapping them all together with a new piece of florist tape. Here is a simple Rosemary and Hot Pepper boutineer.



You can also make and hanging ornament, a small wreath or corsage with additional herbs of your choice.



This blog post is a part of the herbal aesthetics blog party which I am hosting this month. Please be sure to check the next post on this blog to learn how other herbalists are using herbs for beautification.




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2 comments:

Athena's Armoury said...

How festive! Rosemary is one of my all time favorites, too.

Marqueta (Mar-kee-ta) G. said...

What a fun idea! I never would've thought of adding peppers to a corsage :) .

Love,

Marqueta