We visited Old World Wisconsin, a Wisconsin State Historical Site, during Laura Ingalls Wilder Days, August 4-5, 2012. We didn’t know about the special event, so we were pleasantly surprised to see all the hands-on activities at the different villages. When we arrived at the Koepsell Farm, in Yankee Village, a young farm couple (museum docents) were making tiny bouquets for anyone who wanted one to wear.

It was a rather celebratory crowd, since the weather was cooperative. It was a perfect walk-around kind of day.

We stepped up to the table to pick out the flowers for my mini bouquet.

Each bouquet had three flowers, plus a bit of green foliage, fastened together in a foil wrap. The docent said the folks at Old World Wisconsin were following instructions from a womens’ publication dated from the 1870s, the oldest reference they’d found for making buttonhole bouquets.

I picked a peach colored rose, a purple zinnia and a yellow dahlia for my bouquet, plus a bit of greenery whose name I can’t remember. There were huge metal pails filled with flowers and greenery. What fun to choose from the many flowers and foliage!

Once I’d picked the items for my bouquet, the young woman cut the stems to arrange the flowers, then arranged the placed the foliage behind the flowers. She put a dab of wet moss in a square of paper, tucked in the bottom, and then rolled the paper around the stems. A large pin held everything in place.

 

One of the docents kindly gave me permission to take a quick portrait of her, wearing one of the buttonhole bouquets. She was taking a short break and she needed one! Her role that day was to rake the hay in a field into a large pile so the adventurous children could climb the hay pile and jump in the hay. The kids loved the activity, and she was enjoying herself, too.

Here is a photo of my bouquet, propped on a wooden bench. What a fun and easy idea. And my bouquet stayed fresh until the next day. The moistened  moss provided enough moisture to keep the flowers in good spirits! And it was fun to walk through the outdoor museum, and see what flowers the many women and girls chose for their buttonhole bouquets. Great variety!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Each Sunday she posts a group of photographs on a theme – the Sunday Series.