Green Bean Casserole bouquet

What you’ll need for the vase:

1 flower bucket (7 inches tall,

with 7-inch opening) Craft paper

Tape

Scissors

3 pints of green beans Gold paddle wire (26 gauge) Green paddle wire (28 gauge) 1 block floral foam

Knife

For the bouquet:

Clippers

Gold paddle wire 6-inch wired wood picks 1 bunch limelight hydrangea 5 stems “wicked green” baby

hydrangea

1 bunch “green trix” dianthus 1 bunch green hellebores 2 bunches green “monkey

balls”

1 pint small green peppers 3 bunches of green garlic Bleached Italian ruscus

Instructions:

For the vase: Wrap the bucket with craft paper, tucking the ends inside the rim and under the base, taping the edges to secure. Using the green wire, wrap 5 beans together in the middle, creating a bundle, twisting the wire ends to secure. Cut the excess wire. Continue making green bean bundles. With the gold wire, create several 8-10 inch garlands of green bean bundles by wrapping a bundle with the wire and twisting it tightly, adding additional bundles on a wire, leaving about 2 inches in between each bundle and on each end. Starting at the bottom, wrap the bucket with a green bean garland, securing the wire ends together on the other side. Working in horizontal rows, add another green bean garland in the same manner. Continue attaching the garlands to the bucket until the entire surface is covered. Cut the floral foam to fit the bottom of the bucket and wedge it in tightly. Fill the vase with water, 2 inches below the top.

For the bouquet:

Prepare the flowers by stripping the bottom leaves off the stems and separating the materials into piles. Create a fairly dense base layer with the limelight hydrangea, inserting the stems lightly into the foam, forming a slightly elongated oval shape. Add the “wicked green” hydrangea, mixing the stems evenly throughout. Weave the “green trix” dianthus in between the hydrangea stems. Place long stems of hellebores so that the blossoms float above the bouquet, while allowing some to trail down. Cut the “monkey balls” stems into pieces of 1-2 pods and wire to the picks. Insert the monkey balls, placing some lower and others higher in the design, creating a ribbonlike effect. Wire the green peppers and green garlic to the wood picks and insert them throughout the bouquet, adding texture and movement. Cut the bleached ruscus into small, 2-inch pieces. Create several 6-8 inch bleached ruscus garlands using the gold wire: wrapping the wire around and adding pieces on a continuous length of wire. Drape the garlands around the edges and over the top of the bouquet, adding dimension and lightness.

From “Bouquets” by Laura Dowling (Stichting Kunstboak; $35; 144 pp.)