Mothers Day DIY hand-tied bouquet

A mix of blooms picked from Garsons, Waitrose and the garden - rosemary, daffodils, roses, chaenomeles, amaryllis and lisianthus.

Chop to roughly the same length. I'm right handed, so I started with my 'hero' bloom in my left hand - in my case, the amaryllis - and then worked my way round. Rose, rose, lisianthus, daffodil, daffodil, rose, rose, lisianthus, chaenomeles, daffodil, daffodil, rose, rose, amaryllis, lisianthus, daffodil, daffodil, catch each stem in your hand, anchored by your thumb, and so on until you can almost barely hold the bunch in your hand - then ease in the rosemary as a surrounding halo. Quickly whip a piece string around the stems, double back and tie a secure double knot. Turn upside down, and snip the stems so that they're even. Pop upright and keep trimming until the bouquet stands on it own.

Pre-cut four pieces of tape. Cut a rectangle of cellophane and pop the bouquet on top and gather up the corners - fold around the bouquet, sticking down as you go - to create a secure, watertight base. To be on the safe side, double tie another piece of string around the stems. Take a jug of water, and carefully pour through the bouquet into the plastic to weight it down. Pop the bouquet to one side. Cut two rectangles of cellophane, and two of paper - I'm a big fan of brown paper. Layer a piece of paper on top of the cellophane and do a single fold from corner to corner to create a double triangle. Repeat. Wrap the first piece around one side of the bouquet and secure with tape. Repeat. Tie with some lovely raffia, get in the car and deliver to your mother!

Happy Mothers Day. Ours was spent back home with a delicious roast dinner cooked by Dad, eaten in the garden with the Red kites swooping low overhead. How lovely is it to eat outside (minus the birds of prey)?