BOUQUETS WITHOUT BLOOMS

During the Spring and Summer my garden is bursting with blooms.  I always gather them and bring them inside.  Now that it's getting colder, most of the blooms are gone. That doesn't mean I still can't have an arrangement in my home.  There is such a thing as bouquets without blooms.

I always turn to my shrubs.  I filled a vase with nothing but clippings from my Nandina bush. 

NANDINA BOUQUET IN A CHAMPAGNE BUCKET  

Most of the summer the Nandina is green.   As it gets colder, the leaves become tinged with red. 

 I added  it to a planter at the store.

NANDINA BOUQUET AT OUR STORE

Magnolia leaves are my favorite, especially during the holidays.

MAGNOLIA LEAVES AS HOLIDAY DECOR

 My cedar tree comes inside too. 
I added some around silver holiday spheres in my dough bowl.

CEDAR BRANCHES IN MY DOUGH BOWL

When the leaves change from green to reds, yellows, and oranges, I snap off a colorful branch
 and add it to a wicker-covered bottle on my  screened porch.
 At the end of my street is a tree that drops the most wonderful pods while releasing its leaves.  They look like huge pea pods and turn a warm brown, curling and twisting perfectly.  Here they're wrapping themselves around a vintage book.

BRANCHES AND LEAVES IN FALL COLORS

I put some of the colorful branches on the bench on my front porch too.

FALL BRANCHES AND MY FAVORITE PAINTED PUMPKIN

I even use branches without their leaves. 
When a friend cut down her birch tree, I rescued some branches and added them to a demijohn.

DEMIJOHN AND BIRCH BRANCHES ON MY STAIR LANDING

Actually, branches work as arrangements all year long.

DRIFTWOOD BRANCHES ON MY MIRRORED TABLE

Yes, I painted Harry Lauder Walking Stick branches orange and placed them into a vase.

PAINTED HARRY LAUDER WALKING STICKS

Shed antlers make arrangements without blooms too.

SHED ANTLERS IN A JAR

Feathers can take the place of fresh flowers.

FEATHERS IN A VASE ON MY MANTEL

What do you use as a bouquet alternative?

When All My Flowers Are Gone

All Spring and Summer I have the luxury of picking flowers from my garden and enjoying the blooms inside.  One of my favorites are my peonies.  They're so short lived but so lovely.

Peonies From My Garden

Even now that the weather has turned cold, I still can find garden cuttings in my yard.  I think that the shapes that branches take on are so interesting.  I placed these branches in a demi-john on my front porch.

I especially liked these branches because they had some funky mold stuff on them that made them even more interesting.

I also like to clip a selection of branches which haven't lost their leaves.  I placed some multi-colored beauties in my favorite hand blown bottle with my framed ceiling tile as a back drop.

Fall Arrangement on My Screened Porch

Branches are one way to add nature inside when the flowers are gone.  I also use cuttings from my shrubs.  My favorite shrub to use is my Nandia, sometimes called Heavenly Bamboo.  In the Fall the leaves are green but in the winter they have hints of red. One variety even has berries.  The look of a totally green arrangement places the focus on the texture.  In fact, I use Nandina cuttings inside all year long.

Nandina Bouquet in an Urn in My Dining Room

I wanted to share one more image that I'm sure many have seen already.  It's the Harry Lauder Walking Stick branches that I painted red and placed in a vase with some sand and shells.

Branches on My Mirrored Table in My Sun Room

So, what to you do for some Fall nature in your home?

Kathy


If you missed my other posts about Fall decor, go here, here, here

Coastal-Inspired Mantel

My sun room mantel is always changing.  The only constant is the vintage Greek Key mirror which, for me, provides a perfect backdrop for my re-decorating compulsion.

I decided that the container filled with shells and painted Harry Lauder Walking Stick branches would look very good reflected in the mirror. So, I moved it from this mirrored table.

And, I placed it on the mantel with some other coastal accessories.

To complement the vase and branches, I used my Zgallerie faux coral, some antique leather books, and also my Pottery Barn platter.  I love the way my bamboo chandelier and my pull-down classroom shell map reflect in the mirror.

I think the covers of the leather books have a sea life/sea creature look.

In front of the books are some weighted tassels.
Up-side down and cascading they remind me of an anemone.

And you know I have a chair obsession.
These bamboo Chinese Chippendale chairs are one of my favorites

I can't forget the book with the coral on the cover on the Asian chest.
I like the cover as much as the images inside.

So what do you think about the sea life inspired change up?

FYI, this  mantel was featured on Apartment Therapy.

Kathy

Question Answered

So many of you have been asking about the branches in the vase that was featured on The Nate Berkus Show that I thought I'd do a post about them too.

The branches are from a shrub called Harry Lauder's Walking stick.  It's actually selected as a planting for its gnarled branches, not its foliage.  Here's what it looks like.  It's homely and interesting at the same time.

  It's super easy to copy this idea, even if you don't have a Harry Lauder bush.  Any twisty branches will work.  I filled the bottom of the jar with sand.  I then added shells a little past the halfway mark; then placed the branches and filled up to the top of the jar with shells to support the branches.

Initially, I created this as a display for the store.  I was selling Christmas ornaments made from shells covered in glitter.  The jar filled with shells and sand and the gnarled branches were my "shell Christmas tree."  Only after the holidays as I was packing up did I think about using it in the sun room.  If you look at the pictures of that room you'll see that the vintage classroom shell reference map and the coral prints in mirrored frames on the window inspired the room decor.

I placed the vase and branches on the mirrored table and decided to paint the branches Chinese Red too. 

I think the color really makes them pop.  

Give it a try.  It's easy and dramatic.

  Let me know how yours turns out.

Kathy