Stock Up

Spring has sprung, and one of its colorful and fragrant treats is stock.

I remember one of my first gardening lessons with both pleasure and pain. The pleasure: seeing spring blossom right in my own backyard. The stock produced so many blooms I didn’t buy flowers for two months. Then came summer, when the pain arrived and I learned my lesson about annuals--a yard without blooms.

If you are fortunate, your backyard is beginning to blossom and you can put together bright and beautiful bouquets--as gifts when invited to dinner, for your own table when guests are expected or just to enliven your home.

But you really don’t need a green thumb or a garden to present your host or hostess with a beautiful stock bouquet. It is among the least expensive and abundant of spring flowers, so indulge and keep some at home too.

YOU WILL NEED

12 to 15 assorted stock flowers

Greens for filler

Clipping shears

Satin ribbon

TO MAKE BOUQUET

Trim bottom of stems on a diagonal with clipping shears.

Start with one flower as the center bloom and place others around it in a circle. Repeat.

Place a few greens around bouquet.

Place several greens upside down to cover stems.

Gently pull stock leaves to the top.

Wrap ribbon around bouquet and tie in a knot or bow.

Trim ribbon to desired length using a diagonal cut.