Christmas is my favorite season. I love the decorations, the lights, the music, the smell. As soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is made into leftovers I am pulling out our Christmas decorations and hopefully inspiring the same love of the Christmas season in my 4 year old daughter. Since we don’t have a fireplace she thinks Santa comes to the door and says “ding dong” to bring her presents!
Fresh flowers and plants make the holidays even brighter. Oregon is blessed to have a wide variety of fresh holiday greenery that bring the wonderful smell of Christmas to life. These days we meet requests for holiday flowers for everything from traditional centerpieces to fun and modern arrangements. Don’t hesitate to try something different this year! Here’s a little inspiration to get you started…
The first thing you should know about your floral centerpiece is that the cut stems are inserted into a floral foam, also known as oasis. Oasis is great because it retains water well and helps the arrangement hold it’s design. Flowers in foam can stay vibrant and beautiful for days, but they need care. The downside to oasis is that where you can see the water level in a vase, in floral foam the water level is not as obvious. Because of this, many a centerpiece dehydrates and dies earlier than it should. So it is important to make sure your floral arrangement has plenty of water.
How to check the water level: Touch the oasis. If you press it lightly you should feel moisture.
When to water: Because it’s cold outside, and we’re all keeping our homes warmer, the water from the floral foam is going to evaporate faster, so you should check the moisture level every day.
How to water: Move your centerpiece to the sink, or to a surface that won’t be damaged by water, in case you spill. Carefully find a space in the centerpiece, or at the side of the container it is in, where you can see the oasis, or a space between the oasis and the container, and carefully pour water onto the oasis or into the space around the foam, allowing time for the water to be absorbed. Slowly add water until the oasis is thoroughly saturated.
Having fresh flowers during the Christmas season is a wonderful tradition that makes the home feel extra festive. Whether you are buying them for yourself (highly recommended) or as a gift for someone else, here are some of my favorite holiday arrangements.
Centerpiece ClassOn November 30th, we held a DIY Holiday Centerpiece class at the store, and boy what a great success it was! We had so much fun sharing our passion of designing floral arrangements and are so impressed with all of talented DIY designers! They were all so creative, filled with ribbons, ornaments, snow covered pine cones and more. It was truly a night of holiday cheer! For some Christmas centerpiece inspiration visit my other posts on traditional centerpieces or modern centerpieces.
Here are some tips from our expert instructors Julianne and Jodie:
– get all of your supplies set out before you start (this goes for any project…it just makes it so much easier)
You can easily see here how the floral foam sits well above the lip of the container
– make sure your floral foam sits at least 1″ above the lip of your container
– Remove foliage from your stems where it will be inserted into foam (about 2″ since stems need deep insertions to ensure they draw up water and stay secure)
– Recut your stems before insertion
– Use your longest greenery stems at the ends of your centerpiece to create your base. Then make sure none of your other stems are longer than these base pieces.
– Create texture and depth to your centerpiece by alternating the angle of your insertions
– Keep your sides narrow. It’s easy to make centerpieces too full- long and narrow is often best for the size we demonstrated. Other styles of centerpeices are round but you don’t want greenery draping onto your guests’ plates!
One of the participants did a great job with their centerpiece keeping the sides narrow- and beautifully decorated
– Once your greenery is in, have fun with your decorations: ribbons, christmas balls, ornaments, pinecones or whatever suits your interest. We like to use wood picks to help secure items like Christmas balls & pinecones (glue onto pinecones or twist wire onto Christmas ball/ornament tops)
Adding artificial snow to greener can help add texture and a fun, wintery feel
Here is some video that we took during the class. This shows some of the wonderful centerpieces being made. This is not an instructional video but gives you a feel for the class.
Although I am a big fan of traditional Christmas decorations, as a florist I love being able to showcase the artistic ability of flowers. You don’t have to be ultra modern yourself to use a Christmas centerpiece that has a little bit more interest & personality than the old standby. These centerpieces below would work in a variety of settings and would be a great conversation starter at the table.
Cream roses add dimension to a centerpiece of white candles and orchids
Using votive candles elevates the eye and creates interest
Tropical protea and green roses make up this non-traditional centerpiece
Bright green apples are unexpected but make this arrangement pop
A ring of roses is treated with beaded wire for an unusual but cool table decoration
A wonderful wreath of flowers makes a fun decoration
There are lots of different options when it comes to decorating your table for the holidays. I’ll talk about modern and unique holiday centerpieces in a future blog but these centerpieces are great traditional choices. The wonderful thing about winter greens is that they last a very long time (remember to keep them away from heat, though). After your flowers fade, you can remove them and continue to enjoy a festive table decoration
A pillar candle centerpiece is very traditional (many have 2 pillars of different heights)
White oriental lilies are fragrant and add a pop of pure white to brighten the table
This is our best selling centerpiece- it is elegant and minimal flowers means it is long lasting
Spend an evening with Julianne and Jodie creating your own holiday centerpiece! Using fresh Oregon greenery, you will learn technique on how to properly place and insert your greens, bows, candles and decorations for a long-lasting Christmas centerpiece.
Our last class filled up very fast so make sure you call & register now. 541.485.1261. All supplies and & materials are included in the cost of the class as well as light refreshments. Additional items will be available to purchase during the class if you want to make your centerpiece even more spectacular. So call your girlfriends, mothers or daughters and sign up for a fun evening together!
Dandelions Flowers & Gifts 