The abundance of flowers all through the fall gives rise to the feeling that they must be enjoyed everywhere – in the garden, in bouquets throughout the home, and for personal adornment.
For the latter purpose, no blooms are more adaptable and suitable than dahlias and chrysanthemums, and, besides, few are more easily obtained.
Three Methods of Wiring
For stemless blooms, medium thick mesh wire is bent into a “hairpin” and drawn through blossoms. On the table, right, medium, the wire is inserted in a hollow stem and taped. Lett, fine wire stuck in the calyx and twisted onto the stem.
These typical autumn flowers, strangely enough, share many characteristics. Both may be grown for blossoms that are no more than an inch in diameter or that rival a dinner plate.
And while neither one has a true blue variety, the color range can satisfy every preference.
Dark tones, daintier hues, and bicolors permit matching fabrics for corsage work. The form also is variable—for example, the spoon chrysanthemums.
Because of the variation in size, color, and form, dahlias and chrysanthemums are two of the easiest flowers to work into all types of corsages.
Whether it is to be pinned on a tweed coat for a football game or on the dress to be worn to the dance afterward, harmony is easy to achieve.
Before The Corsages Are Made
As with bulbs, annuals, and any garden flowers, dahlias and chrysanthemums should be gathered the night before the corsages are to be made instead of cutting. The stems of chrysanthemums are simply broken from the plant.
Dahlias are cut on a slant with a sharp knife. The large flowering kinds of dahlias should have stem ends sung in a flame or dipped into boiling water for a few seconds immediately after cutting.
Foliage is then stripped from the stems of the lower half of both dahlias and chrysanthemums, and all flowers are placed in a pail of cold water.
They are left in a cool, dim place for several hours or until the corsages are to be made. Any other foliage or small flowers to be used with the dahlias and chrysanthemums should also be cut the evening before and treated the same way.
Chrysanthemums For Corsage
Chrysanthemums have good substance and last well even after being handled in the making of corsages.
However, dahlias, except the pompons, are more delicate. Petals of large flowers are easily bruised.
Dahlias desired for a corsage should be cut as soon as they have opened fully and not after being in the bush for several days – or even one.
44659 by Olive E. Allen And Dorothy H. Jenkins