Serving Up Flowers In A Pumpkin Tureen

by Mary @ Home is Where the Boat Is

One of my favorite uses for a pumpkin is as a vase for a centerpiece or seasonal display for the table, buffet, or kitchen island with flowers, fruit, leaves, and berries. Here are steps on how to build your own pumpkin vase centerpiece using a real pumpkin or pumpkin tureen.

fall flowers planter pumpkin tureen, flowers, gardening, seasonal holiday decor

Instead of soup, my tureen is serving up sunflowers, along with mums, Alstroemeria, artichokes, apples and some foliage from shrubs and trees for a blooming and seasonal centerpiece.

Place your wet floral foam in a plastic container or bowl inside your pumpkin, or line the inside of the pumpkin with a plastic bag to keep any water from the floral foam away from the bottom of the pumpkin, keeping it as dry as possible to help it last longer.

Floral foam is easy to trim with a kitchen knife to fit your container or pumpkin. You can piece your bricks together, wedging them in your container or pumpkin for a tight fit. Floral adhesive waterproof tape will prevent the foam and/or flowers in your container from shifting once your arrangement is complete. My foam was wedged in tightly, so I skipped the tape.

Next I added sunflowers as my focal flowers. I use an odd number of sunflowers, or 5 for this arrangement, and because they came in a convenient bunch of 5 for $6 at the grocery store :) You can find a great selection of affordable flowers at Trader Joes for $3.99.

I like to add some produce, apples, artichokes, lemons, etc. with flowers in an arrangement. They add texture, color and interest and you need fewer flowers in your arrangement.

I use floral picks (available at the craft store) to anchor the fruit and artichokes to the foam. If I need more height I use a sturdy stick rather than a pick.

After the larger elements are in, I add the filler flowers. I cut some goldenrod, free for the picking, leaves, and some long-lasting Alstroemeria, $4, from the grocery store.

More examples of pumpkin vase centerpieces at the table and tips for conditioning flowers and using oasis or wet floral foam on this post!

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2 comments

Miriam Illions on Oct 15, 2014
Oh my goodness, this is breathtaking!

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Douglas Hunt on Oct 19, 2014
Love combining fruit and veggies with the flowers.

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