Thanksgiving: Celebrating the Harvest

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick peek at the flowers I created for a private home today. Entertaining over forty people for Thanksgiving can be daunting, but a lovely space and flowers in the colors of the season help create the perfect setting to celebrate and give thanks. What guest wouldn't love to sit down to a beautifully set table?

More on what flowers and materials I used tomorrow - for now, whether you are just getting ready to serve a crowd or you are just finishing up, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Cinnamon

I will often talk about working with 'clear' colors and working with 'off' colors: clear colors being those on the basic color wheel: true blue, red, yellow, purple, etc.; and off colors being those which divert and seem to have added grey, brown - a little off, e.g., the difference between a grass green and a celadon green, the difference between a grape purple and ashes of roses lavender.

For this fall wedding, I worked with what I would describe as an off peach - or a cinnamon. What a perfect color for fall. These roses are amazing and just get bigger and more perfect as they open. The overall look was pretty simple, but the two rose colors made it unique and memorable.

Flowers pictured include: hydrangea, hypericum berry, versilia peach roses, cinnamon roses, salal.

Abundance of Color

Fall, like spring, is an explosion of color.

Trees, flowers, and plants respond to the changing light and temperatures - the trees are ablaze, the flowers eek out their last burst of color, the plants grow leggier and insistent as they stretch for the last bit of light.

Decorating with fall colors can be a bit staid with the eternal combination of orange, brown, and yellow. I like to change it up - add some purple, some neon-like oranges, some velvety oxblood reds, even some unexpected pink - and fall looks fresh again.

This wedding was pretty spectacular, I have to say. I really loved the contrast of the antique hydrangea with the pigment-drenched oranges, rusts, and reds. To me, these designs exemplify the look of fall: the mix of colors and textures, the mix of textures, and the lush abundance of a fall garden.

(Check out the cake flowers - what a treat to decorate!)

Flowers pictured include: antique hydrangea, pink snapdragon, hypericum berry, orange lilies, blackout lilies, kangaroo paw, freedom red roses, donna orange roses, orange unique roses, ruscus, salal, green hydrangea, white vendela roses.

Summer Garden Blooms

I used to have a rather extensive cutting garden where I grew the flowers one would find at the farmer's market or a roadside stand - zinnias (always), sunflowers, salvia, tithonia, euphorbia, just to name a few. I experimented a lot over the years and I loved being able to go outside and just cut a bunch of flowers for the kitchen table.

This wedding was reminiscent of one of those bunches I would gather on a hot summer day. With the main colors of red, yellow, and orange, I mixed in some greens, purples, and white to soften.

The bride, who hails from Germany, especially loved gladiolus, as she grew up next to a flower grower and acres and acres of gladiolus fields.  The simple and bright lines of the flowers were in perfect contrast to the plain light wood of the altar.

Materials pictured include: sunflowers, zinnias, stock, buplorum, gladiolus, larkspur, white hydrangea, gerbera daisies, freesia, orange roses, solidaster, yellow roses, ivy, salal.