Put them in a vase with some dried statice and straw flowers for an arrangement that will work through spring.

The bouquet of dried straw flowers and fragrant herbs on the mantel would just have to do.

They use a core mix - celosia, nigella, straw flowers, larkspur and gomphrene - and each year try out something new.

The sentiments weren't that far from her own of a moment ago, but to hear them from these women, one of whom had a handbag decorated with tasteless straw flowers, made her want to defend the well.

New this year are a Bolivian tree strung with tiny white llamas and straw flowers, a Byzantine tree with miniature icons and crosses and a Laotian tree trimmed with handmade balls, dolls in national costume and silver bowls.

Miss Woodward's spring line, available in London at Harvey Nichols, Harrods and her own tiny shop on Portobello Road, features a flat-brimmed black straw hat bedecked with matching straw flowers, and a golden straw hat that looks like a lampshade.