• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
Hunt County Master Gardeners
Hunt County Master GardenersTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Articles
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Program Overview
    • FAQ
    • Contact
    • Master Gardener Emeritus
    • Heritage Garden
      • Animal Name Bed
      • Heritage Garden Plant Database
    • Hunt County Master Gardeners Shutterfly Photos
    • Junior Master Gardener Program
    • Outdoor Learning Center
  • Events
  • Links
    • Hunt County Extension Office
    • Texas AgriLife Extension Bookstore
    • Aggie Horticulture
    • Aggie Turf
    • Texas Master Gardener
    • Texas Master Gardener Association
    • Texas Master Gardener License Plates
  • Resources
    • Plants for East Texas
    • Vegetable Resources
    • Fruit & Nut Resources
    • Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab
    • Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab
    • Texas Superstar Plants
    • Earth-Kind Landscaping
    • Xeriscape
    • Insects in the City
    • USDA Plant Hardiness Map
  • CEUs
    • Log My Hours
    • Texas Master Gardener Association Events
    • Master Gardener Advanced Training
    • Earthkind Online Classes
    • Landscape Design Study Courses
    • American Horticultural Society Events
    • Texas Botanical Gardens and Arboreta

Using Plants as Holiday Centerpieces

November 12, 2014 by stephaniesuesansmith

Using Plants as Holiday Centerpieces by June Morgan

This is the time to think about centerpieces for the holiday tables.  Catalogs offer glitzy and expensive arrangements, but the savvy gardener can use a lot of what is at home for a do-it-yourself project.

For autumn, pumpkins and gourds are indispensible, coming in many colors and striations. Cut pumpkins to use as candle holders or to hold a pot of blooms or greenery. For different heights and lengths of the overall design, use trailing evergreens (please avoid poison ivy or oak), Indian corn, or foraged grasses, many of which look ordinary from afar but interesting when close up. Mimic a sheaf of wheat by tying together mature grasses  and place vertically in your arrangement. Shop at thrift stores such as Goodwill for inexpensive decorative objects such as vases, figurines and bowls. You will be surprised at what you find. Fillers such as sphagnum, small twigs and branches can add a unifying effect. One warning – sphagnum acts as a wick, so don’t let it touch water, or everything surrounding, including the table and cloth will be soaked.

Prepare ahead of time for when nothing in the garden is blooming by rooting cuttings of plants such as coleus in water (this takes only days), and starting bulbs such as amaryllis and paperwhites (narcissus) which require no chilling time. You can grow these bulbs in a pot filled with soil or in a shallow bowl, using pebbles to hold them in place. Add water up to the bottom quarter or third of the bulb. To keep them from growing too tall and floppy, use one part 80 proof vodka to seven parts water. Starting bulbs which require chilling time such as mini daffodils, hyacinth and tulips indoors is possible but needs more time and preparation. Coleus is especially useful because of the ease in growing, propagating, and the many variations in colors and patterns. After serving duty in the table décor, they can be enjoyed in a sunny spot all winter in pots. Cyclamen, readily found in nurseries in rousing reds, pinks and white is especially effective in Christmas displays with artificial snow or angel hair.

Plants can serve as a basis for many other creative ideas. Think feathers, glitter, candles, small LED lights (the battery pack can be easily hidden), artificial or real moss, rocks, ribbons, etc. Look around your house and yard and even the fields with open eyes.

Some online resources for floral design material: “Mearsfloral.com”, Afloral.com or “Gardeners Supply”.  Catalogs can give ideas which can be an inspiration for or replicated with your own resources.

Filed Under: Gardening 101, Ornamentals Tagged With: Holiday Centerpieces,, Winter

Find Us on Facebook logo

Articles by Topic:

  • Composting
  • Earth-Kind
  • Entomology
  • Events
  • Flowers
  • Fruits and Nuts
  • Gardening 101
  • Herbs
  • History
  • Keyhole Gardens
  • Ornamentals
  • Plant Diseases
  • Recipes
  • Roses
  • Seeds
  • Square Foot Gardening
  • Trees
  • Turf
  • Vegetables
  • Water Conservation
  • Wildlife
  • Winter

Article Key Words

African Violets Asparagus Bag Worms, Bees Birds, Bluebonnets, Brown Patch, Butterflies, Composting Dragonflies eGardening with the Master Gardeners, Fall Tomatoes, Fire Ants, Fruit Trees Garlic, Gifts, Grapes, Grasshoppers, Greenhouses, Keyhole Gardens Late Fall Vegetables, Late Spring Gardening, Leeks Notable Texas Gardens, Onions, Poison Ivy, Poisonous Plants, Potatoes Propagation Pruning Trees, Rainwater Harvesting, Raised Beds Rose Hips Spider Mites, Spring Vegetable Gardening Squash Bugs, Summer Trees & Shrubs, Turf Grass, Valentines, Vegetables Watering Water Wise Gardening, Wildflowers, Winter
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information