Thanksgiving Floral Centerpiece~ A Tutorial

One of the things I am most grateful for in my life is my garden club and the creative friends I have made in this group.  Every year we get together to create a fresh Thanksgiving floral centerpiece.  One of our members, the talented designer Mari Dolby, certified in flower arranging from the venerable Longwood Gardens, led us in a class to create a magnificent arrangement just in time for the busy entertaining season.    I learned so much:  from how to dangle apples from a floral arrangement( easy trick!)  to wiring feathers for interest(why not!) and incorporating vine balls for organic texture.  It was an inspiring class.  The principles of flower arranging shared in the slide show below are useful for any seasonal centerpiece and I hope will help you in your future flower arranging.

The completed arrangement

With the leftover scraps and some foraged seed heads, this sweet little arrangement was made in a Dollar Store votive “vase” for the powder room.

Materials:  oasis, basket or other container, small branches from the garden, 5 long stemmed roses, 3 sunflowers, 3 stems of lemon leaves, 3 long stems of mums, 2-3 stems of asters, 3 small Lady apples, 3 seed pods, clusters of hypericum berries, 2 clusters of red soladago, seeded eucalyptus, 3 vine balls of different sizes, florist moss, florist wire, florist pics, 1 spray of feathers, any other foliage of interest from your garden.

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