Create an Easy Table Centerpiece With a Bag of Lemons

I'm always looking for an easy table centerpiece and this bag of $4.99 lemons at the grocery store provided some sunny and affordable table inspiration.

I used my favorite ‘vase within a vase’ method for flower arranging and a centerpiece for the table. Start with two vases, a smaller one to nest inside a larger one. They can be any shape or size, as long as one is smaller than the other. Place your flowers in the inner vase with water and fill the walls between the vases with your decorative material ( like candy, here, or the lemon slices ) to conceal the flower stems and/or any mechanics like chicken wire or floral foam.

Once I had the lemons positioned between the vases, I added water between the walls of the vase so the lemons were completely submerged. The size of your vases will determine how many lemons you will need. Remove any seeds from the lemons slices prior to adding them to your vase so you don’t end up with floating lemon seeds!

Hydrangeas are blooming in the garden so I used hydrangeas in combination with the lemons, but you can use any garden or grocery store flower for your lemon-slice arrangement. Cut hydrangeas are notorious for wilting, more so than any other garden flower, so use the alum-dipping method to keep cut hydrangeas from wilting.

A mini lemon "vase" can be a fun take-away or addition to each placesetting, using garden or grocery store flowers. The mini lemon vases are easy to create by cutting a hole in your lemon with a knife. Scoop out the flesh to add your blooms. I used a melon baller to scoop a little “well” inside to hold the flowers.

I used petunias, lantana, abelia, and hydrangea from the garden, and placed each lemon "vase" on a hydrangea leaf.

More photos and details at my Lemons and Hydrangeas Alfresco Summer Table.