How to Make May Day Posies
People have celebrated with flowers on May Day (May 1) since the Roman times at least. May Day marks the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, and this is when the earth quickens, and flowers and summer crops start to pop out. British and Celtic May Day traditions include secretly leaving flower posies on the doorsteps of your neighbors and friends. I’ve been doing this for a few years in my neighborhood, and people love it. Here’s a few ways to make super cute May Day posies.
Some guiding principles:
Small is beautiful, simple is good. These posies are a token of affection, not a table centerpiece. Typically I’ll use 3-5 stems of greenery and 5-9 total stems of different flowers, depending on the size and kind of flower. Jelly jars or condiment containers make good, inexpensive vases (reduce/reuse!).
Keep it to scale - Petite and delicate flowers are recommended, which give it a natural, meadow-y feel. That said, who wouldn’t want a bodacious parrot tulip in their flower posey?
Seasonal flowers all the way - Think tulips, grape hyacinths, primroses (aka cowslips), hellebores, daffofdils, fritillaria meleagris and f. uva-vulpis. Flowering branches are perfect additions too, such as crabapples, flowering quince and cherry blossoms. For greens, use pieces of Pieris Andromeda (Japanese Andromeda shrub), boxwood, and /or azalea leaves and flowers.
It’s traditional to include a yellow flower, which represents the sun, such as primroses, daffodils, or tulips.
It’s no sin to get store-bought flowers and foliage if there’s not enough material in your garden.
For mechanics to hold the stems in place, you can use a jelly jar with a round mesh insert, available at many craft stores. I’ve also found a chicken wire ribbon made with thin gauge wire (shown above, middle photo) which can easily be cut and inserted under the jelly jar band. A small vase with a cinched neck also helps keep the stems together. For the flower posey shown in the left photo above, I made a small spiral bouquet and used an elastic to hold it together. There are a few YouTube videos on making spiral bouquets, and I especially like the instructions from noted floral designer Amy Balsters of www.thefloralcoach.com. It’s a skill well worth learning!
Here’s my recommend order of making a flower posey in an open jar or a jar with a wire insert:
Before you begin inserting stems, clean off any leaves or flowers from the lower half of every stem. There should be NO leaves under the water level in the vase. That leads to bacterial growth and shortened vase life for your flowers.
First insert 3-5 foliage stems around the top of the jar, adding the stems in at an angle (not straight up and down). This creates a “nest” for the flowers and covers the edge of the vase. Azaleas and Pieris have a natural curve which drapes over the top of the jar. The intersecting foliage stems also help to hold flower stems in place. Measure your stems up against the jar before you cut.
Second, add your larger-stemmed focal flowers, such as tulips, hellebores or roses. Keep the flowers at different heights and depths within the arrangement, and fanning out from the center (not just facing upwards).
Third, add smaller filler flowers in-between the larger flowers. Tuck some small in low in the jar, which adds depth to the arrangement. Lilac makes a nice touch as a filler, but be sure to remove ALL the leaves from a lilac stem to prevent the lilac flowers from wilting. It’s also wonderful to add some dancing flowers above the rest, such as the fritillaria or ranunculus.
Rotate the vase as you add flowers, so you’re looking at the arrangement from all sides. Take a photo with your cell phone, which will quickly reveal any dead spaces or areas that need to be filled in.
Don’t overstuff your flower posey, leave the flowers room to breathe and the bees room to buzz in and out. You may want to remove some stems from the jar if it feels overstuffed. Our tendency is to add more stems, when it’s usually better to let a smaller number of stems to show off the exuberant personality of spring flowers.
OK, go ahead, make up a few May Day posies and have fun giving them out! This is an excellent group activity too. Keep at least one posey for yourself, of course. Change the water every other day, and keep flowers out of direct sunlight. That’s it, have at it! Spread some beauty and joy!