Foraging the Garden for Quick and Easy Thanksgiving Centerpieces

It makes sense that since nature is so obliging in autumn, with fruits, flowers and foliage in all the appropriate holiday colors, that we take advantage of this bounty and bring it indoors for decorating. Thanksgiving centerpieces can be elaborate creations or as simple as a basket full of colorful leaves and berries. Forage through your own yard and gardens for the making of a holiday display. What nature doesn’t supply can be easily found in grocery stores and nurseries, like roses and carnations in shades of orange and gold, russet sunflowers and spider mums and purple pikes of Liatris.

A peak at the photo gallery showcasing three centerpieces created from dried flowers, potted herbs and houseplants should show you that you have everything you need to pull together a Thanksgiving table display. Here are some more suggestions to get your imagination going.

Containers

• Baskets
• Enamel and Ceramic Bowls
• Pewter
• Glass
• Carved Out Pumpkins

Foliage

• Evergreens, Boxwood, Bay, Ferns, Nandina, Artemisia, Dusty Miller, Dried Leaves (Maple, Sweetgum, Ginko, Oak...) Rhododendron, Ornamental Grasses, variegated holly & ivy

Berries

• Red: Red Chokecherry (Aronia), Cotoneaster, Holly, Crabapple, Viburnum, Yew, Pernettya (Prickly Heath), Firethorn (Pyracantha), Skimmia
• Purple: Beautyberry (Callicarpa)
• Yellow: Chinaberry (Melia azedarach), Firethorn (Pyracantha)
• Orange: Bittersweet (Euonymus Vegetus), Firethorn (Pyracantha)
• Black: Black Chokeberry

Branches

• Red & Yellow Twig Dogwood, Contorted Plants like Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, Corkscrew Willow, Pinecones

Cut Flowers

• Mums (Spider, Fuji, Rover...), Snapdragons, Gerber Daisies, Yarrow, Carnations, Roses, Asters, Liatris, Caspia, Trachelium, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, Myrtle, Statice, Straw Flowers, Dahlias, Chinese Lanterns, Dried Hydrangeas

Fruits

• Lady Apples, Clementines, Seckel Pears, Cranberries, Persimmons, Pomegranate, Grapes, Gourds, Figs, Dates, Dried Fruits, Nuts, Clove studded Fruits

Vegetables

• Asparagus, Artichokes, Chili Peppers, Gourds, Mini Pumpkins,

Herbs

• Sages, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Lavender

Plants

• Mums, Kalanchoe, Amaryllis, Cyclamen, Ferns, Bromiliads, Dwarf Fruits or Vegetables like Jerusalem Cherry/Winter Cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum), Asparagus Fern, Ivy, Heuchera, Leucothoe, Any type of standard

Tips:

• Try to keep you centerpiece under 12"
• Poke bamboo skewers into fruits and vegetables, to raise their height in the arrangement.
• Mist Your arrangement daily to keep the foliage fresh
• Keep candles away from your arrangment

• Outdoors:
  • Fill a birdbath with seeds, berries, pinecones, and greens
  • Tuck sprigs of berries into topiaries and potted evergreens, near the front door
  • Plant old, weathered terra cotta and cement urns with cold hardy plants like ivy, moss, heuchera and sage