A couple of readers have reached out after yesterday’s post where I shared a picture of the centerpiece I made for Thanksgiving last year asking for the details of where to buy it. That put a big smile on my face because I made it! You may or may not know that Aaron and I have a little side hustle where we’ve done wedding and event floral for the last few years. Between our move to Colorado and COVID, we’ve largely sat out for 2020 but I can’t resist the urge to play with flowers and bring something pretty to our table for Thanksgiving, even if the crowd gathered around it is smaller this year.

I loved the Cornucopia I brought to my Aunt and Uncles this year so I decided to do another one for us.

Want to make one too? It’s not too late to order or pick up some supplies!

• Gather your supplies. Floral Foam and a tray of some kind to hold the foam, Floral Shears or Floral Knife (though kitchen shears would work in a pinch), a container (I’m using this basket but you can get creative and use another vessel or even a gourd like my photo above!), flower food (sometimes provided with your flowers in the little packets, that works fine too!) Pro tip: a lot these supplies are cheaper at a floral wholesaler if the one in your area sells direct to the public.

• Choose 8-14 bunches of flowers. The more variety the better. For this type of arrangement I like to use 3-4 bunches of greenery, 4-5 bunches of larger focal flowers, and 2-3 smaller bunches of filler flowers.

  • I’ll be using: Ruscus, Italian, Eucalyptus, Seeded, Eucalyptus, Baby Blue Agonis, After Dark-brown, Amaranthus Upright-bronze, Cotoneaster-red, Craspedia, yellow, Dahlias, field-coral Dahlias, field-red, Dried Bunny Tail Grass-natural, Dried Leather Leaf-brown, Marigolds, African-orange, and Gomphrena-orange. If these varieties are hard to find in your area, don’t be afraid to use what you can find! You can still make a lovely Thanksgiving centerpiece with more accessible grocery store flowers, just try to find some greenery, you can even clip from your yard!

• Prepare your flowers. Properly condition the flowers (unwrap, make a fresh cut at angle, remove all foliage below the water line, place in water with flower food). Let them rehydrate for several hours before you try to arrange them, 12+ hours is best.

• Respect the foam. Don’t push your floral foam under the water, let it slowly sink and float back up to avoid air pockets. Try to limit your insertions into the foam, once is best but if you have to pull one out and try again recut it first and stick in a new place.

• Have fun! Arranging flowers is more art than science. As you work on arranging your centerpiece, move around it so you can see the different views and let your eye guide your placements. Don’t crowd your flowers, you want to space them with enough air and movement for the best look, also think groupings rather than polkdots for mixing different varieties. It can help to have an inspiration image or two to draw from, but don’t be afraid to just go for it, they’re just flowers! I’ll be sharing my process on my Instagram next week if you want to follow along.

  Happy Flowering!