Small flowers for big occasions

Sometimes the nicest things come in the tiniest packages. The Victorians adored small, natural-looking flower arrangements – posies or old-fashioned 'tussie-mussies' – and they're still a wonderful way to add olde-worlde character to your home.

There's a great range of smaller cut flowers available in our Bridport garden centre for creating your own hand-tied jewels. Here's how:

Posies: Use flowers of roughly equal size, adding layers of flower around a single central blossom - rosebuds are perfect. A random pattern makes a charming mixed bunch or concentric rings give a more formal look. Use leaves for the final row, tie with ribbon and trim stems level.

Tussie-mussies: like informal posies with fragrant herbs (Tudors used tussie-mussies to disguise bad smells). Use rosemary, lavender and mint around a sweet-smelling central flower, and hand-tie with string or raffia – also available in our garden centre.

Buttonholes and corsages: use one large flower with a little foliage, or a bunch of small flowers. Insert wire through the base of the flower and bind the ends with floral tape. Wire leaves on to the wire 'stem' you've just formed and bind securely.

Please ask the staff in our garden centre for more information and advice about choosing flowers for tussie- mussies, posies and buttonholes.