Tablescapes, Refreshing Flowers
Our house was full of flowers this past weekend, some hydrangeas from the garden, some roses from my sweet husband, and a lovely bouquet from some friends that came for dinner. I love flowers, and hate to part with them, so when they start to droop, I refresh the arrangements to make them last as long as possible. Water is oxygen for flowers, so by changing the water often and re-cutting the stems, you can lengthen the life of your blooms. Toss the spent ones and select a smaller vase or container and recreate your arrangement. Not only will you refresh your flowers but you will give your tablescape, centerpiece or counterscape a new fresh look too!
So here’s what I had to work with…some of the hydrangeas still look good, and most of the roses…not sure what is still good in the middle so I began by eliminating the spent blooms
Now I can decide what vase to use based on the remaining stems.
This is going to be a very eclectic arrangement!
First let me show you the counterscape Hungry Husband did for me on Saturday…
He bought these yellow roses and a bottle of wine at the grocery store and then added 2 chocolate biscotti. While I was out he found the vase and put the roses in it, and arranged everything neatly on the counter in the great room. How sweet is that! He keeps a stash of biscotti in his Man Cave [Mr. I Don’t Eat Sweets] and every now and then he’ll share one with me! Anyway I thought that was so thoughtful and super romantic…
that I left it there all weekend! Loved it. Anyway, sorry to get carried away…
Friday night friends were coming for dinner so I created a centerpiece on the island with a woven tray, large pottery urn and a frame holding the evening’s menu. When our guests arrived with a bouquet of flowers I used the urn for a vase and the flowers created an instant centerpiece for our buffet dinner.
I decided to use this vase for the new arrangement and filled it with fresh water.
I started with the roses, trimming off the leaves and re-cutting the stems. I kept the 3 longest roses out to use later.
I put the large hydrangea blooms in the center with the roses around the edge and inserted the 3 longest roses near the center
Then I stuck in the remaining stems, and a couple of green leafy stems
I placed the vase on a gold rimmed charger and added a gold coaster with a floral moss ball to create this wacky vignette*!
*vignette: a small ornamental design filling a space, typically based on foliage.
I also like to call these mini tablescapes “counterscapes.” It’s fun to put unexpected things together to ENTERTAIN THE EYE. Try to keep your groupings composed with odd numbers of items, 3, or 5 and unify your arrangement with color or style. Various textures will keep it interesting. Even though these flowers would not normally be arranged together, they seem to make more sense now with the gold pieces and the moss ball. The whole thing is so crazy it seems to be on purpose.
Break Tradition and try something new!
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