Create a Transitional or Fall Flower Arrangement With Apples

6 Materials
$25
30 Minutes
Easy

Celebrate the Fall's arrival with a flower arrangement, incorporating apples!

Apples, gourds, pumpkins, mums, and Indian corn are a few of my favorite harbingers of fall! I gathered some of each in celebration of my favorite season!

For my arrangement, I started with a favorite urn and a piece of chicken wire. Chicken wire is an eco-friendly alternative to wet floral foam as it can be reused.

Cut your chicken wire at least 4 inches wider than the opening of your container, so you have some excess wire to bend and hold against the walls of your container. My piece of chicken wire was from a previous arrangement and container that I reshaped and bent in sort of a ball shape. Use waterproof floral tape if needed, to keep the chicken wire from lifting as your arrange your stems. 

To add the apples to the arrangement, I used some bamboo kabob skewers from the grocery store. You usually find them in 10 and 12-inch lengths, so they’re ideal to skewer an apple to add height and interest to an arrangement. 

If the skewers are too long, you can easily break them to the length you need. Because the skewers are food safe, you can still eat or bake with your apples when your flowers are spent and disassemble your arrangement. Find a harvest of apple recipes for fall on my blog, HERE

I started with some foliage clipped from the shrubs to give some structure to the arrangement. I also added some leafy red kale from the grocery store to add some texture and color to the arrangement.

Sunflowers are the perfect transitional flower with their large brown centers and sunny yellow rays. . . ideal for September when it’s supposed to feel like fall, but the summer heat is still hanging on! I added some rust colored mums for filler to join the sunflowers, along with some goldenrod that grows in the field next door, free-for-clipping. Apples were added next, placed throughout the arrangement.

White waxflowers from the grocery store were added for more filler and then a few more pieces of greenery, clipped from the shrubs.

The finished arrangement is placed on a tray with pumpkins, Indian corn, assorted botanicals, and a few more apples.

Tips to help your cut flowers and arrangement last:




  • Add a packet of commercial floral preservative to the water that comes with your grocery store flowers.
  • Cut the stems of your flowers at a 45-degree angle one inch from the bottom for maximum water uptake.
  • Remove all leaves below the waterline to prevent bacteria in the water.
  • Keep your arrangement out of direct sunlight.
  • Check your water level, topping off as needed. Sunflowers are heavy drinkers.
  • If possible, change your water in your arrangement every two days.

I often get questions about how long an arrangement will last: it depends on the type of flowers you use and the condition of your flowers (whether the grocery just got them in or they’ve been sitting there several days). Sunflowers, waxflowers and mums are long-lived in an arrangement if you change the water and follow the tips above. This arrangement is from a couple of years ago, it lasted a week, with the kale the first to expire. I removed the kale and added some foliage to replace it.


More photos and details at the blog link below, along with more fall flower inspiration incorporating apples!

You might also like this DIY Fall Apple Spice Wreath. Find the steps and supplies to create this affordable wreath, HERE.

Resources for this project:
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Mary @ Home is Where the Boat Is
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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