Fall Flowers in a Ceramic Pumpkin
Fall flowers and a ceramic pumpkin—what could be more perfect for the season? In this floral design how-to video, Leanne combines rich chrysanthemums, hydrangea, eryngium, Japanese maple, and bright butterfly ranunculus for a colorful autumn arrangement filled with texture and movement.
Video Transcription
The ceramic pumpkin, one of my favorite containers for the season. Done all-sided, it makes a petite centerpiece perfect for the side table, your desk, or a small dinner table. Let me show you how it's done.
Starting with the ceramic pumpkin and then filling it with foam using Midnight Foam, pre-soaked with flower food, scoring down the corners just a bit so you don't have that point sticking out. Then to secure the lid, using 18-gauge wire taped with corsage tape, so just taping it down, and then folding it into a U that can fit right inside the pumpkin. To secure it, a single UGlu strip, just open that out, set it into the lid, and then pull the piece off, getting it all tight down to the ceramic, then placing the wire in, forcing it down. It holds really well, and then just feeding that right down into the foam and letting it rest on the lip.
To begin, starting with larger base flowers. Hydrangea is wonderful, long-lasting, will dry and be amazing, dipping it in alum so it will last even longer, then placing it down tightly to the base of the container. Repeating that. Bringing in some chrysanthemums, definitely an iconic flower of the season, making sure it goes in at least two inches, remember Flower School, so that it will drink well and stay in the wet portion. Oh, that one's sad. We're not going to use him. Don't you hate it when that happens, going back for another? Again, getting a nice, deep insertion so it will drink well.
Now for a little bit of brightness, Hypericum berries, picking up the orange of the pumpkin, pulling it into the arrangement, some texture from the Eryngium, pulling down individual stems, but grouping them together. The laterals are so long, you can just use them individually and get that texture going. They almost look like little spiders with all the extensions. And repeat that so you pull the blue through to the opposite side and the orange also comes through, so that it's not just spotted in one area.
To finish, bits of autumn leaves finishes it off nicely with a little bit of grace and that color. We'll be cutting it down slightly, using it in a couple of different places so that it pulls that color through, then repeating, making sure you bring it to the backside as well. And for some lightness, beautiful butterfly ranunculus, just letting them come, dancing over the top, adding a little bit of height to the bouquet, and again, pulling that orange from the pumpkin upward.
The recipe, I used two small green Hydrangea and three of the burgundy Chrysanthemums. Then I filled in with two stems of Eryngium that I cut apart and two stems of Hypericum to bring in that bright orange. To finish, two stems of the Butterfly Ranuculus, broken apart, and a portion of the beautiful Japanese maple.
The beauty of the pumpkin, it can transition through all of the autumn season, including Halloween and Thanksgiving. Paired with beautiful fall flowers, it's sure to be a favorite. You'll find more creative inspiration on the website, flowerschool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there. But now, it's your turn. Find the perfect pumpkin vessel, create an arrangement, take a photo and post it on social media. Be sure to #FloralDesignInstitute so we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
