Floral essay #6

An ode to the humble buttonhole.

The buttonholes on Bridgerton caught my eye. At their lavish weddings the grooms would wear the buttonholes with some kind of metal encasing around the stems. I’m not sure if this was accurate for the period or a flourish that the Bridgerton florists decided to add.

But it sparked my interest.

A buttonhole, or a boutonniere, is a tiny floral posy worn on a lapel. Nowadays they’re worn at weddings, usually by the groom and best man. Sometimes by the fathers and sometimes by other members of the wedding party. Nearly every couple planning their wedding will ask me either: Who needs to have a buttonhole? And how do I attach them?

But buttonholes used to be worn more regularly. My mind immediately jumps to Mary Poppins. Mr Banks frequently sports his bright red carnation buttonhole. His flower was secured by pushing it through the actual buttonhole, a custom that has since changed. Now they are pinned on top of the buttonhole - it is so very confusing both the flower and the actual hole on the jacket are both called a buttonhole. Is this just a British thing?

In the last ten to twenty years of floristry the wedding industry has had a huge glow up. Even more of a glow up than Penelope Feathering. (I will shut up about Bridgerton, eventually.) Buttonholes used to be a focal flower, like a rose, maybe a piece of gyp and probably a snippet of greenery, like ruscus or eucalyptus. The stem would be snipped off and replaced with wires. The wires would then be taped over with green florist tape. Yes, it was very faffy.

Wedding bouquets used to be created with this method too. It’s very dated now, but I loved it. Not the way it looked, it was very rigid and strict, whereas I love a more wild approach, but the actual process of wiring and taping was very therapeutic.

Some old school florists do still make wired and taped buttonholes, but it’s not for me. I create tiny little posies, usually with a collection of flowers and foliages. I’m based in Scotland, so a lot of the buttonholes I create include a thistle. I tie mine with ribbons, velvet or twine and just leave their stems bare.

It’s easy to overlook the simple buttonhole, but I treat each one as a miniature work of art. Testament to this, my two most popular posts on Pinterest are both buttonholes. So this floral essay will be devoted to some I’ve made over the years:

Photos:

1. Spray roses, muscari and wax flower

2. Clematis, canterbury bells, jasmine and foliage

3. Spray rose, hypericum, september, eustoma

4. Roses, clematis, waxflower, snowberry

5. Roses, tanacetum, jasmine and foliage

6. Calla lily, eryngium, spray rose and foliage

7. Berried ivy, roses, dried and dead stuff I found in my studio

Let me know your favourite! After typing out the ingredients for each buttonhole I realised that I clearly have favourite flowers to use.

With love,

P.S. Let’s bring back wearing buttonholes on the regular!