Holiday Centerpiece from the Garden

Pull on your warmest hat, gloves and boots, and use your garden as an excuse to get out in the sun and fresh air, even on this most frigid day. Brush the snow and ice off shrubs and trees and you'll find that with a bit of foraging and plenty of imagination, your garden will still yield up just what you need to grace your Thanksgiving table.

Seasonal foliage, pods, berries and branches look so much better to me than anything formal, stiff, store-bought and out-of-season. What could be more perfect than the remnants of summer from your own garden as a reminder of all we're thankful for? Bringing outdoors in is just the hit of nature we need this time of year, when we're indoors so much of the time....

It's a temptation to do generously-scaled, fluffy arrangements, mixing together the smorgasbord of textures out there, from the burgundy leaves of a chocolate mimosa to rose hips and autumn ferns, as in this big bunch clipped from my garden.

Better for the Thanksgiving table areseveral low bowls of berries and leaves to mix with candles down the center of the table.  The key is to repeat some materials for continuity, yet make each arrangement unique. This draws guests in to look closely....who needs flowers when you have such variety waiting to be clipped just outside your door?

Rose hips and viburnum berries, chartreuse 'Granny's Ringlets' dwarf conifer (Cryptomeria japonica 'Spiralis' ) epimedium, and silvery senecio. The dark notes are curly kale and glossy Hebe 'Amy'. The puff balls are the leftover seed heads from yellow ligularia flowers; all are loosely arranged in three Japanese bowls down the center of my favorite holiday table runner...

Happy Thanksgiving....here's your close-up...

Comments

[compression tops]

Wow! The flowers that you have captured in the picture are really awesome and I must say that they are looking like real one. It is perfect for making good mood and also helpful to make good atmosphere.

[elderly parents]

These are amazing flower plants which I never seen till now.I love gardens and like to spend time with plans gardening.Gardens are very helpful for us it gives real beauty to the earth.