Combine pumpkins with chrysanthemums, bittersweet, zinnias, asters and other fall plants for elegant seasonal displays.
By Emily VanSchmus, Midwest Living
Flower pumpkin
This cheery design turns a pumpkin into a vessel for chrysanthemums or other fall flowers.
To make your own, buy 40 to 50 florist’s vials at a crafts supply store. With a small sharp knife or drill, make a band of holes at different heights and about 1 inch apart around the middle of the pumpkin. Holes should be a tiny bit larger than the head of the vial. Fill the vials with water and push them into the holes so they are just below the pumpkin’s surface. Cut a pile of chrysanthemum flowers with stems around 2 inches long and insert into the vials to create a dense floral border. Thistles, wild asters or faded hydrangeas could also be used instead of—or in addition to—the mums.
Grapevine pumpkin
Create an elegant pumpkin basket using a package of grapevine garland from a crafts supply store to make the handle.
Buy the vine and decide on the handle’s length, adding an extra 4 inches to both ends to insert into the pumpkin. Remove the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the contents. Cut a 1-inch hole on opposite sides of the pumpkin near the top, and push the grapevine ends into each opening to form the handle. Fill the pumpkin with water and arrange your favorite fall flowers inside.
Blooming Blue Hubbard
Make this striking fall arrangement from a blue Hubbard squash filled with zinnias, asters, rosehips, and viburnum berries.
Start by setting the squash on a flat surface to determine how it will lay without rolling. To make the container, cut a 7-inch opening on top of the squash and scoop out. Fill the hollow halfway with water and arrange some showy fall fruits and flowers in it, and set the arrangement in a basket on a bed of moss.
Pumpkins in a basket
Transform a hanging flower basket into a fall display by replacing frost-killed plants with mini pumpkins.
To make the basket from scratch, find a wire basket to hang by a hook and rope on your house or garden shed. Line the basket bottom and sides with moss sheets, the green moss facing outward. Fill with soil and add small plants and vines from your garden or a garden center.
Bird’s nest in a bowl
This celebration of fall in a shallow bowl includes a miniature white pumpkin set into a bird’s nest atop a spiral of viburnum leaves and berries. To complete the still life, a lifelike bird perches on the side of the nest, giving the impression of a mother watching over a giant egg.
Terrarium topper
Use a large or medium pumpkin, like the Cinderella variety shown here, as a terrarium container. Slice off the top of the pumpkin and scoop out seeds. Fill with soil; plant small terrarium plants. Cover exposed soil with moss. Finally, add mini pumpkins, acorns and other gathered accents.
See more at: Midwest Living
