I can't believe it, somehow it's already become fall! Throughout the year I love to fill my home with bouquets and centrepieces of seasonal florals, fruits and plants. Purchasing these weekly or bi-weekly from a shop or florist could break the bank, so instead I like to use surrounding materials from nature. While my dream and longterm goal is to grow a personal flower cutting garden (I did try my first elevated edible flower garden box this past summer - baby steps), most flowers and greens I currently use in bouquets and arrangements, are foraged from my yard, or the yards of family and generous friends.
I've posted a few time on the blog (here and here) about my love of seasonal branch bouquets and recently created a Spring Branch Bouquet using multi-coloured Lilac tree branches.
My next door neighbour has an enormous pear tree. Every third year it produces an abundance of small, red-green pears. Aside from cooking with the bags of pears he leaves on my front door step, this year I decided to bring some of the tree's beauty inside with a Pear Branch Bouquet to transition into fall.
Looking at my neighbour's pear tree, I tried to locate smaller branches that had pears attached at the ends and the middles so that the finished bouquet would have seasonal fruit both at the centre and the edges of the arrangement. As I only have a small ladder, that involved branches closer to the ground as well! A few pears fell off the branches while I was arranging the bouquet - not to worry, they became the base layer alongside the pitcher to balance the bouquet.
Creating beautiful bouquet's and arrangements doesn't have to be expensive, use what's around you to bring a little piece of nature into your home. All branches, when cut on a bias and placed in water (that is changed regularly) should last up to 2 - 4 weeks. That's a much longer life span than flowers and equally beautiful.
Good luck creating your own Fall Branch Bouquets! As always I'd love to see your comments below. I encourage you to post your own pictures of your Fall Branch Bouquets to Instagram and tag me at @mykuratedlife so that I can see your creations.
Take care and Happy Fall,
Krista
Fall Branch Bouquet
Materials
I pitcher (height and sturdiness is important, as the branch stems can be heavy)
5-6 branches, fruit attached
3-4 small stems of leafy greens* (see Notes below)
Method
Gather materials at your workspace.
Cut branch stems on a bias and using sharp shears make a slice through the centre of the stem bottom. This will increase the branches ability to absorb water, extending the life of your arrangement.
Decide if your arrangement is going to be see from all sides, or the front only. Place branches with hanging fruit into the pitcher, starting with the tallest branches, then working to smaller filler-type branches. Be very gentle as you don't want the fruit to come off the branches. In my arrangement I tried to keep the height on one side and balance this with lower branches on the opposite side, creating a diagonal line for the eye to follow.
Add in additional leafy green stems if using.
Display your arrangement in non-direct light, changing the water every second day.
Notes:
*Additional stems of leafy greens are optional - my branches had a lot of greenery still attached, so I did not need to fill the arrangement with extra green stems. If your fruit branches do not have greenery, add extra stems
*If using extra greenery, try to vary the green colour from our fruit branches to add tonal variation
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