I find myself most productive in the early morning hours. The quiet and stillness of the house while the rest are still asleep feels like such a novelty to me. My head is clearer, my thoughts start to soar, and ideas start stirring around in my mind like shooting stars. With a warm mug of coffee in my hand, bliss sips in. I head out to the coop to open for business and say hello to the girls, who are already clucking away, spreading all kinds of chicken gossip, I am sure. They all have a voice, they all like to be heard. Typical.
Between the house and the coop, there are a number of ground coverings, bushes, plants and grasses. Things before that were deemed a little less significant are now very significant. Waiting in lines to enter stores, sneezing into masks and sending fellow shoppers into a frenzy; looking around the yard is now my own store. It’s always been here, but now, I feel as though I’ve struck gold. Several varieties of clippings just waiting to be put in an arrangement.
Did you know you have a wide variety of plants that maybe you’re so used to seeing, or didn’t even cross your mind to use in an arrangement, just hanging out, waving at you and saying, pick me, right in your back yard?! A few clippings from the neighbor’s yard would be a good addition, as well as finding some lovely wild flowers by the side of the road. If the neighbors say it’s ok, and you find a safe spot to pull over, I say, why not! Anything with a pretty leaf, as long as it’s not poisonous, is all you need. And not every arrangement needs to contain flowers. I’m a huge fan of an all greenery arrangement; all the greens to create a beautiful bouquet. Here are 7 ways to create free floral arrangements just by shopping your yard.
7 Ways To Create A Free Floral Arrangement
Idea #1: Short and tight with a little whimsy. My neighbor was kind enough to give me a tour around his yard, taking clippings from various plants for this one. A little here, a little there. Ground coverings and grasses are the key ingredients for this arrangement. The dark green , called euphorbia, grows low to the ground. The variegated green is Solomon’s Sean and the rust ones are echinacea. The petals that had not yet fallen off were plucked, leaving us with a beautiful rust-colored pod (not sure it’s really called a pod, but I’m calling it that). A few blades of grass add the whimsy.
Arrange in groupings to highlight the different greens of each leaf. This approach works well for a short and tight arrangement, don’t you think?
Idea #2: Combine wild flowers, ferns, herbs and evergreens. Who knew all of these put together would make such a lovely arrangement. Like I said before, anything that has a green leaf and isn’t poisonous is fair game.
Pine branches make for a great stabilizer for a bouquet. I put them in the vase first in a criss cross pattern and with this, each leaf stayed right were I placed it. Another tip is to start the arrangement on the sides, finding your center-front point first, then add to the top, and then fill in all around. Here, a bunch of sage holds center court. The fern stems add drape and tucked in and around the pine are leaves from a sweet potato plant growing in my garden. The dainty stems of the wild flowers add warm fall colors and I filled in with hosta leaves and grasses.
Idea #3: An unexpected fall arrangement. On paper, squash, hydrangeas and tree bark might leave you scratching your head, but together along with moss and kale are the true definition of unexpected beauty. Bring in some twinkle and warmth of some candles and you’ve got yourself a pretty centerpiece.
The bark comes compliments of our wood pile, and I found the moss over by the barn, growing on a rock. Fallen leaves are the produce of fall. Everything else was found in our garden and around our house. If you don’t have a garden, grab the squash and kale from the grocery store.
Idea #4: Jump into the leaves. Here’s where insignificant turns into very significant. Fallen leaves may clutter your yard, but here they gather into the perfect laissez faire bouquet. This is all about embracing the colors of fall. No rules here, and no need to polish silver. The cluster of leaves looks right at home in a tarnished teapot. You may need to change out the leaves every couple days or so, but during this time of you, you have the jackpot falling from the trees. Add some tall grasses for flair, if you want.
Idea #5: Christmas in a window box. Bring on the evergreens! Gather as much as you can and mix them all up. These window boxes hang under each window at the coop. Here, I cut branches of spruce, a couple different types of pine, holly and boxwood to make for a merry gathering. I added some red sticks that I trimmed from a bush, some faux red berries I had lying around, and I grabbed some pinecones to use as filler. Remember to criss cross a few pine branches to help stabilize the arrangement. Works like a charm every time.
Idea #6: An herbal bouquet. I shared this how-to recently on a Quick Tip Friday. Have herbs, will arrange. Put them in a pretty vase, and display on your kitchen counter. Think of it as a non-verbal sous chef. Sounds perfect to me. Plus, it smells really good.
And last but not least..
Idea #7: A combination of grocery store and side of the road. I mixed sunflowers from the grocery store, and some pretties found by the side of the road, to fill up this tall vase. After a few unsuccessful attempts at growing sunflowers, I do buy mine from the store, but that doesn’t stop me from clipping a few wild flowers from the side of the road. Here’s a little secret I’ll share with you – keep a set of floral clippers on standby in your car. I keep mine in the glove compartment. This way, when you see some wild flowers off to the side that you’d like to clip, you’re ready.
7 ways to create floral arrangements by shopping your back yard. Now’s the time to turn the insignificant into significant. Take a look around; you have so much beauty in your yard, or even just on your porch. Clip. Combine. Contain. Bring together the unexpected, because you never know just how pretty an arrangement can be without trying.
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