A celebrity florist has revealed his top tips for recreating a bouquet fit for a king.
Simon Lycett is one of Britain’s most coveted experts, and has created displays for the Queen’s private dinners and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s parties.
He was also the man entrusted with devising the spectacular blooms for Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank in October last year.
Speaking ahead of his appearance at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Spirit of Christmas show, Simon shared his advice for creating the perfect bouquet – including adding bunches of berries for texture and turning to trendy dahlias.
Royal florist Simon Lycett is one of Britain’s most coveted experts and adorned the grand staircase at Windsor Castle with glorious seasonal foliage from Hillers Nurseries and abundant foliage berries and branches from Windsor Great Park for Princess Eugenie’s wedding
Simon (left) was also the man entrusted with devising the spectacular blooms for Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank in October last year. Right, the couple on the day
Simon filled the Grand Reception Room filled with fragrant English garden roses, a favourite of the royals, arranged within the vast malachite urn that dominates this room and its north terrace-facing window, alongside branches and bunches harvested from the gardens below (seen Malachite urn in The Grand Reception Room)
Celebrate the seasons
The autumn is always a great time to reevaluate how you decorate your own home with plants and flowers.
I always encourage clients to celebrate the spectacular variety of seasons which makes the British landscape as fabulously floral as it is.
Warm tones of autumnal foliage give textural and tonal interest when combined with boughs of berried foliage, a sprinkling of rosehip and jewel-like crab-apples.
Add berries for texture
Pictured: Table decoration using foraged horse chestnuts and beech mast, David Austin garden roses, and plant material gathered from Savill Garden and Windsore Great Park
Tall stems of bright berries such as euonymus and cotoneaster, crab apples and viburnum give fullness and fabulousness, and reward you with a rich palette of foliage as well as sparkling berries.
Place them in a tall and stable vase of fresh water – bundles of these berried beauties are long-lasting and easy to arrange.
Table decoration using foraged horse chestnuts and beech mast, David Austin garden roses, and plant material gathered from Savill Garden and Windsor Great Park
Make sure to harvest your lushest stems before the first frosts entice the birds to start feasting upon them.
Adding pops of bright contrasting colour, the delectable and now deeply on-trend dahlias that abound during the autumn months seem to become more magical each week.
Embrace the rainbow
I try and council those clients who prefer a minimal and monochromatic palette to take the plunge and embrace the rainbow blooms.
A giddy gathering of each and every shape and shade makes for uplifting and exciting carnivals of colour which gladden the heart and certainly cause a stir in any setting.
Once the frosts have robbed us of this fabulous fare, there is still much seasonal fun to be had, and you can add pine cones and conkers, beech masts and berries to add texture as the leaves continue to turn.
Gather from your garden
Simon’s table decoration with David Austin roses in royal The Grand Reception Room, including viburnam and chestnuts gathered from Windsor Great Park
Take as much as you can from your garden, the tone will always ensure it’s seasonal and look to unusual plants to add texture and depth.
‘The Queen invited us to gather and cut from Great Windsor Park’
I was fortunate to be invited to create the floral decorations to greet guests arriving at Windsor Castle for the reception following the marriage of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank last October 2018.
I was doubly fortunate that the Queen allowed us to gather and cut from the grounds of Windsor Great Park.
The Queen is additionally blessed in that she has the spectacular Saville Gardens (part of Windsor Great Park) forming her back garden, so the choice of plant material was magical.
The gardens have everything from the gentlest green hydrangeas to arching branches of beech and of birch, together with tall boughs of liquidambar, the latter being a particular favourite of the Queen.
I filled the Grand Reception Room with fragrant English garden roses, a favourite of the royals, arranged within the vast malachite urn that dominates this room and its north terrace-facing window, alongside branches and bunches harvested from the gardens below.
The contrast of using the most seasonal and simple decorations created within the grandest of settings is a visual treat that I often enjoy.
We are fortunate to be one of only two approved event suppliers accredited to work at all the Historic Royal Palaces in London.
During the Autumn months we often fill Kensington Palace and the Tower of London with a myriad of textural and tonal seasonal treats, where the scale of what we can create adds to the spectacular setting.