Do-It-Yourself Flower Tips and Inspiration - # 8 - Sweet William Flowers

This time 'Do-It-Yourself  Flower Tips and Inspiration' is all about Sweet William flowers.

• Sweet William is the common name - the botanical name of the flowers in Latin/Greek is Dianthus barbatus.
• It's in the Caryophyllacae family commonly called the pink or carnation family .
• The first part of the name comes from the Greek di or dios meaning god or divine - referring to the Greek gods. The second part of the name anthos means flower.

• Barbatus means bearded or hairy as a small part of the flower has tiny hairs.
• Sweet William is an old-fashioned cottage garden favourite and have been grown in Britain for hundreds of years.
• The flowers has a lovely clove-like scent.

• The Duchess of Cambridge had white Sweet William in her wedding bouquet when she got married to Prince William in 2011. Kate chose the flower as a tribute to her bridegroom.
• They come in many colours - white, pink, red, purple as well as many variegated colours.
• The flowers attracts bees and butterflies. 
• The flowers are edible and have a peppery, clove like flavour and can be used in salads. 
• Cut stems between the nodes for maximum water uptake.
• They are long-lasting - about 5-10 days - and are great value for money. 

The flowers are British and grown by the brilliant Cel Robertson at Forever Green Flower Company.

I made a little bouquet entirely made up of different light pink Sweet Williams. I made a fabric ribbon from a piece of fabric in similar pink tones and tied that around the stems and I used a vintage pink jug as my vase. 

My bright pink creation for the month of June - even though it's cold and rainy here in London.

Enjoy your flower arranging!

Have a Great Floral Day!

I will see you later in the week with more Do-It-Yourself flowers from 'Of Spring and Summer'.

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

[Styling and Photography © Ingrid Henningsson - Of Spring and Summer]
[Flowers from Forever Green Flower Company.]

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