After the rush to get the festive season sorted – the turkey ordered, the tree decorated and the flurry of last-minute presents bought and wrapped – it’s easy to forget that the New Year is just around the corner.
But New Year’s Eve is almost as exciting as Christmas, a time to sing Auld Lang Syne, to hug your loved ones tight and to welcome the New Year. If you’re in Scotland you’ll be celebrating Hogmanay and perhaps you’ll be first footing, an ancient custom where the first person to enter your home on New Year’s Day will bring all the luck for the coming year with them.
The New Year is a chance to make resolutions, to plan exciting trips and to think about learning something new. It’s also the ideal opportunity to treat friends and relations to a beautiful bouquet of flowers. From luxurious red roses and snowy-white hydrangeas to more unusual stems like eye-catching red amaryllis and large white cymbidium orchids, gorgeous blooms are the perfect pick-me-up to brighten up the greyest winter day.
To welcome 2024 in style, here are some of the dazzling flowers and foliage that are bringing zing and zest to our New Year bouquets.
Carnations
If you’re keen on matching flowers to the months of the year you’ll know that the January birth flowers are carnations and snowdrops – two flowers that positively thrive in cold weather. Carnations symbolise devotion, loyalty and love, and with their ruffled petals and vivid colours these hardy blooms are just the ticket to put a smile on everyone’s faces in midwinter.
Cymbidium Orchids
One of the world’s most ancient flowers, cymbidium orchids symbolise pure, valued and respected friendship so they are a wonderful gift to give at this time of year. With multiple flowers on each stem they come in a confection of colours, from winter white to deep pink. These long-lasting blooms are easy to look after and can even cope well in a centrally heated house.
Hydrangeas
These magnificent showstoppers add pzazz to every flower arrangement so if you’re holding a party for New Year they’ll attract compliments galore from your guests. Hydrangeas signify gratitude, grace and beauty and once they’ve bloomed they make exquisite dried flowers – a win-win in our view. Simply leave them to dry out in the vase, well away from direct sunlight, and hey presto, they’ll last for ages.
Oriental Lilies
Lush, dramatic and fragrant, these perennial flowers are a big favourite of ours. Their huge, star-shaped flowers come in shades of pink, red, white and yellow and represent beauty, innocence and wealth – a great message for the start of the New Year. Amazingly, they have been found in gardens for more than 3,000 years and have been known to grow to a magnificent 6ft tall.
Red Roses
Reds and greens are the colours of the festive season and red roses always make us feel extra-celebratory. As well as symbolising love and passion, they are amazingly versatile. They look stunning with lilies and golden foliage but they are just as merry and bright with spruce, pinecones, ruscus and hypericum berries.
Hypericum Berries
Red or green, we love using hypericum berries in our winter bouquets. Also known as St John’s Wort, hypericum symbolises superstition and used to be hung over doors, windows and paintings to ward off evil spirits in Victorian times. These days the cute little berries (they’re poisonous so please don’t eat them!) provide a celebratory splash of colour in wreaths, garlands, decorations and festive bouquets.
Red Amaryllis
The vibrant red amaryllis is often associated with Christmas and the New Year but its name originally derives from Greek mythology. We love the story of a maid called Amaryllis who fell madly in love with a shepherd boy called Alteo. Desperate to win his love, she pierced her heart with a golden arrow and visited his cottage every day, shedding drops of blood along the way. On the 30th day beautiful scarlet flowers bloomed on the path – Alteo was captivated, Amaryllis’s heart healed and the bloom got its memorable name.
Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums are at their most prolific in late summer and autumn but we love them all year round, especially at New Year. Their striking textures and glorious colours blend perfectly with almost every flower you can think of, from roses to orchids and from carnations to blue eryngium. Versatility is the chrysanthemum’s middle name!
Eucalyptus
Simple and elegant, eucalyptus always adds a touch of greenery and fragrance to bouquets at this time of year. But the fast-growing evergreen eucalyptus tree has hidden depths. Native to Australia, it is known for its striking health benefits. Oil from the eucalyptus tree is used in products that help to relieve coughs and repel bugs and is also used as an antiseptic, a perfume and even as an ingredient in make-up.
Bring in the New Year with our beautiful bouquets. Pair them with your choice of champagne, chocolates, prosecco and more to really celebrate in style.
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