Materials collected from the garden add natural beauty to winter decorations. Photo: Michele Christiano
Tussie-mussies are small flower bundles that were worn, carried as fashion accessories, and given as gifts during the Victorian era. They were popularized by Queen Victoria, who often carried around a bouquet of flowers in a small metal vase. Horticulturist Wendy Gentry has incorporated the tussie-mussie in her decorations for a nature tree at Nemours Estate in Wilmington, Delaware. With a few simple tools and some garden cuttings, Mid-Atlantic gardeners can easily recreate this look.
Materials
Chicken wire
Wire snips
Spray paint in metallic colors like gold, copper, or bronze
Cut greens and seed heads from the garden
Sheet moss (optional)
Ribbon
A wire cone will give your tussie-mussie its signature shape. Photo: Michele Christiano
Before beginning this project, take a walk through the garden to harvest interesting greens, seed heads, and berries. Wendy painted allium seeds heads silver for a shimmering effect.
Since tussie-mussies were arranged in small metal vases, Wendy recreated this look by using chicken wire to make a cone-shaped vessel for the greens. First, cut a piece of chicken wire measuring 12 inches long and wide. Fold the wire into a cylinder, bending any sharp edges over on themselves. After achieving the desired shape, bend the bottom into more of a point if necessary. Finally, paint the cylinder. We used gold spray paint in this example.
Line the cone with denser greens like boxwood (Buxus spp. and cvs., Zones 4–9) and arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis and cvs., Zones 2–7), filling around the sides and middle. Photo: Michele ChristianoNext, add more upright greens like fir (Abies spp. and cvs., Zones 3–8) and pine (Pinus spp. and cvs., Zones 2–9) to fill the rest of the container. Photo: Michele ChristianoOnce the cone is filled with greens, add accents such as seed heads, fertile fronds, and berries. Moss can be added to the vase to fill around the stems, if desired. Photo: Michele ChristianoAny natural element can be a potential adornment for these pretty winter arrangements. Photo: Michele ChristianoTo hang the tussie-mussie on a tree or as a door charm, just tie the ends of a piece of ribbon to the top of the chicken wire, spaced a few inches apart. Photo: Michele Christiano
To make tussie-mussies that are uniquely yours, be creative and use what is in your winter garden. You may be surprised by how many beautiful, natural materials you can find to create bouquets.
—Michele Christiano has worked in public gardens for most of her career. She lives in southern Pennsylvania and currently works as an estate gardener maintaining a private garden designed by Piet Oudolf.
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
Buffalo-Style Gardens: Create a Quirky, One-of-a-Kind Private Garden with Eye-Catching Designs
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Buffalo-Style Gardens is a one-of-a-kind, offbeat garden design book that showcases the wildly inventive gardens and gardeners of Buffalo – and offers readers "the best of the best” ideas to use in their own small-space gardens.
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Premium 16 Perennial Wildflower Seeds Mix - Special Garden Flower Seeds Blend designed for planting indoor & outdoors across North America. With over 16 varieties and 100,000 wildflower seeds, this mix is the best solution to attract pollinators - bees, butterflies & birds are essential for garden plants health. Our Special Perennial Wildflower Seeds Mix Includes White Yarrow, Columbine, New England Aster, Siberian Wallflower, Shasta Daisy, Lance-Leaf Coreopsis, Sweet William, Purple Coneflower, Blanketflower, Gayfeather, Blue Flax, Lupine, Dwarf Evening, Primrose, Mexican Hat, Prairie Coneflower, Black Eyed Susan. Easy & Fun Growing Experience with our online guides - Don’t plant disappointment - Add more colors to your wildflower garden! We send only super hearty heirloom flower seeds with the highest germination rate and fast sprout. Our detailed growing guide helps you grow seeds the garden of your dream like a PRO. Colorful Wildflower Garden from Seeds - Grow wildflowers everywhere - Indoor in window garden or Outdoors Flower garden Garden make a beautiful design for your garden borders, pathways, field or meadow and attract pollinators. Made in the USA by Small Family-Owned Business - Quality You Can Trust - Our wildflower bulk seeds variety pack are tested at the highest germination rates before being sealed to last for up to 3 years before you need to plant. Each packet of our flower seeds variety pack is resealable to make it easy to store and has its own label with a QR code for the growing instructions.
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Quick and easy to put into operation and is less noisy and lighter in weight than gas-powered hedge trimmers.
- 38 x 7 x 7 inches
- 6.9 pounds
- 1 Lithium Ion battery required (included)
Comments
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in