HOW-TO TUTORIAL VIDEO
I adore Lilac, with its beautiful conical shape, tiny and perfectly detailed blooms. Lilac adds a sense of romance to designs and when used en masse it is really striking, and its fragrance fills the room. On this page you will find a how-to video, using a simple mass of lilac, hand tied and placed into an aged copper patina effect pedestal pot.

GOING AGAINST USUAL PHILOSOPHY
In the 4 minute tutorial video, I take you through the steps of bringing the stems together into a hand tie, focussing on the shape and going against my usual philosophy of ensuring there is space between each stem (there are a few times this works perfectly).

TO FOLLOW THE TUTORIAL, YOU WILL NEED:
Ten stems of Lilac - the variety I use here is ‘Andenken an Ludwig Spath'
One medium size footed vase - the pedestal pot I use came from Petersham Nurseries and measures D15cm X H18cm
Scissors - the ones I use are made by a Japanese company called Sakagen, various stockists online
Garden twine - sourced from florist sundry suppliers and garden shops

SIMPLE CARE GUIDE FOR LILAC
Lilac can wilt very easily, follow these simple tips and you will get a little longer life from your cut stems:

• Place stems into fresh water, cut their ends at an angle and vertically up the stem by approx. 5cms whilst they are still submerged (so their fresh cuts are not exposed). It's a little fiddly, so be extra careful of your floristry scissors as you do this. The extra vertical cut helps them to absorb more water.

• Leave in a cool, dark place for a few hours before arranging.

• Lilac is one stem that really does benefit from flower preservative, if you have some to hand, add this to the water.

• Refresh the water (including the flower preservative if you have to hand) every other day.

• If you are cutting stems from your own lilac tree/bush, cut early in the morning when the tree/bush is most saturated, use sharp secateurs, cut just above a node, remove lower leaves and plunge the stem straight into fresh water - then follow conditioning steps above.