Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece
Turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie -- what else does your Thanksgiving table need? FLOWERS, OF COURSE! In this Flower School How-To Video Leanne begins with a floral netting armature for mechanics, then cottage yarrow, rudbeckia, and wild tobacco combine with Mokara orchids to create a stunning table center that can transition from Thanksgiving in to the December holiday season with ease. Enjoy!
Video Transcription
With Thanksgiving, we all think about turkey, pie, everything you need, but you know what? All you need is flowers. Let's get started.
The mechanics, classic floral netting taped into place. Then adding fresh water, pre-mixed with flower food. The base, three different foliage. Yes, Leanne's favorite thing. We'll be using some pittosporum, Italian ruscus and Israeli ruscus. The Italian is so long. The mechanics for that, give it a cut, remove the lowest leaves and then place it in at a very strong angle. To hold it in place, using a bit of bind wire in a couple of spots, just wrap it around. Secure it directly to the floral netting, twisting the bind wire, and then bringing it on around and securing it again to hold it in place.
With that in place, I can go back and add in the rest. Just giving it a cut, then radiating from that central binding point, coming all the way around, dividing stems so that you get the full value. Adding just a bit of the variegated pittosporum. This will add some brightness, shining out, pulling your eye into the center of the design. And then for unity and texture to pick up the color of the container, using some foraged weeds. You may know this as tobacco, which was a common name in the Atriplex family, and it is literally a weed that was growing right outside the creative center, and then just placing that in to draw the color up.
To continue the intensity, the beautiful black-eyed Susan, you might also know it as coneflower or rudbeckia. It's got such intense coloration. Dividing it out, and then just feeding it in, using the buds as well. They're beautiful. They won't all open, but they'll add a little bit of zest and movement. Then to transition from Thanksgiving to the winter season, adding in deep, deep burgundy red, the Mokara orchids, and again, just radiating round and round through that central binding point.
To finish, just adding a bit of texture, cottage yarrow, picks up that reddish hue, but adding in that little bit of yellow to keep it into the autumn mode and just filling in, brightening, texturizing and finishing.
The recipe. I started with the base of foliage, one stem of Italian Ruscus, five stems of Israeli Ruscus, and then one stem of Variegated Pittosporum, added in my foraged tobacco, the weed from outside. Then 10 stems Mokara Orchids, 10 stems of the Rudbeckia, Cone Flower, and 10 stems of the Cottage Yarrow. Mix and match. Fabulous.
Designing flowers for Thanksgiving, I always think portable. Set it on the table, enjoy it. Move it as you're eating and there's not enough room, and then bring it back. Then I always add a touch of deep red to transition it to the Christmas season. You'll find more creative inspiration on our website, FlowerSchool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there. But now it's your turn, what are you going to create for Thanksgiving? Be sure to take a picture, post it on social media and #FloralDesignInstitute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
