How to Create a Bouquet - How to Arrange Flowers

Yesterday's post was all about me and my mother's style intertwined together. As a two-part story, today I'm writing about the perfect gift idea for Mother's Day. And more specifically, how to create a bouquet and how to arrange flowers while doing so! You see, my mother had the green thumb of the family. Growing up as a kid, I had little to no interest in flowers or gardening. I wondered why my mother loved spending so much time in hers.

But now as an adult, I've become more like my mother and have a huge passion for floral work and design. Anything involving plant life, I'm down for. If my mother was still here, my gift to her would be just the two of us creating bouquets and arranging flowers together. She taught me a lot about flowers and so in today's story I'll be giving you a few pointers on how-to's when it comes to DIY!

1. Add two kinds of greenery
2. Fill vase with cold water
3. Grind 2 aspirin pills to easily dissolve in water (did you know that putting in 2 aspirins in any bouquet will keep your flowers alive longer?) Go ahead and sprinkle that magic in!
4. Measure flowers, trim to desired height and place in vase
5. Remove leaves from stems so they aren't in water
6. Fill in empty spots
7. And voila!

You can also check out my YouTube video down below for a full tutorial on how to create a bouquet! Thank you so much, Starbright Floral Design, for your gorgeous, intoxicating flowers! I used white and pink lilies, some Holland tulips, eucalyptus, and purple snap dragons. Want to create your own? Use my discount code 'MaQSuz' to get $10 off your purchase from Starbright!

Please don't forget to subscribe to our blog and YouTube channel!

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photos + videography by Gilles Decamps | director, editing, styling, hair + makeup by Suzanne Spiegoski

Mother's Day is fastly approaching us and I'm collaborating with Starbright Floral Design for the perfect gift idea to give to all of the momma's of the world; your mother, your baby mama (or mom-to-be). How about instead of ordering bouquets or quickly grabbing them from the market this year, you hand pick and arrange an assorted floral bouquet yourself?! It's thoughtful and straight from the heart - and such a great activity spent with any mother!

Check out my DIY video tutorial, showing how easy (and fun) it is to be working with flowers, including my own bouquet I arranged myself! Want to design your own? Use my discount code 'MaQSuz' to get $10 OFF of your purchase from Starbright Floral Design!

LOVE & XX'S

FOLLOW MAQ + SUZ

The NYBG's Annual Orchid Show - Part 1

Front & center: The signature centerpiece through the center of the exhibition; an utter wonderment of whimsical vibrant orchids and tropical plants climbing a towering waterfall.

A rich palette of orchids in myriad shapes drizzling from the cascading waterfall.

Obligatory portrait among the thousands of orchids!

Pretty in pink. 💕

Detail of these tinier white, yellow & magenta orchids.

Purple orchids. 💜💜💜

Psychedelic orchids! Aren't these trippy? Spell-binding if you ask me. 

Taking a breather by one of the conservatory pools to say hello to some waterlilies! :)

Tiny miniature orchids. 

All the fuzzy feels...

While exploring the Haupt Conservatory's exhibition, look for a 19th-century orchid propagation display featuring a copy of Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, a landmark work by Victorian horticulturist James Bateman.

Green cymbidiums. 💚

Close up of these beauties. The details are out of this world!

The Question of my Mother poem by Robin Ekiss, from The Mansion of Happiness.

Bye, NYBG! Can't wait to come back for a visit soon! 👋❤️✌️

Last Sunday, my husband and I took our first trip up to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Since we both have never been there and I was feeling extra sentimental during the month of February, I was quite adamant on having us trek out there to see one of the finest beauties in nature: Orchids. And then some. The entire show holds three different rooms. When you first enter into the conservatory you are immersed in a tropical rainforest where we both immediately started removing our wintry layers from the heat and humidity. 80 degrees can warm you right up! ;)

The second passageway brings you into the desert, with a variety of cacti and succulents. I always found plant life in the middle of nowhere, such as an environment like the desert, to be fascinating. To thrive and overcome at the bare minimal of maintenance and care is something us humans should be more mindful of. I feel the world of plants, flowers included, can teach you much about life and yourself. They're on the same journey as you, if you think about. We are born, we live, and then we wither and die. But what we do while we're here is what counts. And they live to make the Earth a better place all the while bringing smiles and warm, fuzzy hearts to us. 

Then halfway into the show, you'll come across a countless number of different colored orchids in all shapes and sizes climbing a cascading waterfall—an homage to the inspired glasshouse habitats of the Victorian era that replicated the flowers' natural environment. This, of course, was the highlight of the show, among the many, if not thousands, of displaying orchids. It felt like I was walking in a dream. With my mom! She would've really loved to see this show, but deep down in my heart I knew she was with me in spirit and smiling up above at the beauty of the world.

Fun fact about the name of the show: Orchidelirium is the name given to the Victorian era of flower madness when collecting and discovering orchids reached extraordinarily high levels. Wealthy orchid fanatics of the 19th century sent explorers and collectors to almost every part of the world in search of new varieties of orchids. [1] In Detroit at the Belle Isle Conservatory, Anna Scripps Whitcomb, left her grand collection of 600 orchids back in 1953. I would love to see this conservatory's collection. As an original Michigander, it is a place I've never been to either. I also can't wait for the Cherry Blossoms at the BBG later this month either. Perhaps another blog post in the works? 😉

And lastly, coming up this weekend, I will be posting up my look of the week which include designer brands such as Louis Vuitton, Assembly New York, & Nike. Think corporate sporty chic! Plus details of my new favorite jewelry accessories will be included as well. Stay tuned, I'm excited to share the photos with you! Have a lovely weekend and come back again soon!

PS - The NYBG Orchid Show is running until April 17th! Go check it out here now!

Love & xx's,