How To Create an Easter Table Arrangement

Roxie

Easter is right around the corner and many of you will be entertaining family and guests in your home.  I thought it would be fun to share my tips with you on creating a beautiful centerpiece for your Easter table using things you can cut from your yard.
First you will need to gather some beauties from your yard.

---

You will need a small bucket with water and some garden snips.  It is best to harvest your clippings early in the morning or late in the evening.  Your flowers will hold up longer if you follow this tip, rather than cutting them in the warm afternoon sun.  If you don’t have many flowering plants in your yard, don’t worry!  Your arrangement can be just as pretty by using fresh greens and shrubs or by clipping from your dogwood trees!  For this arrangement I chose to use: Holly Fern, Spirea, Dogwood, Pittosporum, Japanese Magnolia and Loropetalum.

 Keep in mind that things cut from your yard may not hold up as long as items that you order from a florist.  You may want to make your arrangement the night before or the morning of so that it is fresh.

Next, you can prepare your work space and gather your tools.  You will need: Floral Snips (I prefer a smaller pair of floral snips but you may need a pair of garden snips for your woodier materials), Scissors, a Knife, Oasis floral foam and Oasis tape (both of which can be purchased at your local craft supply store).   

You can create your arrangement in any container that you like to use on your table.  Just keep in mind that you will want to keep your creation low enough to see over at the dinner table.  You also need it to hold water as you need to keep your flowers hydrated.  I keep a collection of vintage white containers available, just for purposes like this.

You will need to soak your Oasis floral foam in water for several minutes so it has time to totally saturate with water.  When the foam is completely soaked, you can hold it up to your container to decide what size it needs to be.

You want it to tightly fill the container; this will help your arrangement to be sturdier.  I always press my foam down slightly on the container to help me judge how much to cut off.   Press your foam firmly into your container.  The top of the oasis should be at least at the top of the container.  I like mine to stick up ½ inch to an inch above the container.  You will now need to secure your foam to your container using a little oasis tape.  Attach the tape to one side of the container and then pull it tightly over the foam and attach the rest of the tape to the other side of the container.  You don’t want the tape to be loose.

I like to set parameters for the finished arrangement so I have some guidelines as I am working. I am making this arrangement for a long table so I am starting with the ends.   If you are making a centerpiece for a round or square table, you can make it the same length on all sides.  I hold up the greens to the container to judge how much of the stem I need to remove.

Save the pieces you cut off because some of them may be suitable for filling in later. I filled in my first layer with the Holly Fern.  Next I used the Pittosporum to fill in the next layer. 

Feel free to cut your larger branches of greens into smaller, more user-friendly pieces.  Strip the leaves and flowers off the ends of the stem to make it easier to stick in the foam. 

You can see from the pictures that I just work my way around the arrangement with each layer to slowly fill in.

I like to save the larger blooms for last, so I finished up with the Dogwood and the Japanese Magnolia.

Don’t be afraid to move something that you have already placed; you may need to make a few adjustments as you go.  Keep working your way around and you will have a beautiful Easter arrangement in no time! 

Want to dress your table up like this for your next special occasion?  Visit our Entertaining category to purchase your favorites!