Botanica Atlanta Landscape Design

Are you looking for something different for your holiday centerpiece this year?  Here are some inspired ideas to help get your creative juices flowing.

Alameda, CA floral designer Ron Morgan, included this photo in his coffee table book on centerpieces, The Center of Attention.  These vibrant -- and no doubt fragrant -- fruit topiaries celebrate the abundance of the season in a back-to-basics kind of way. 

Photo courtesy of Save-on-Crafts.com

Notice how Morgan has used the squash and fruit mingled at the feet of the topiaries to tie them all together.  Here is another set of centerpieces, tied together in the same way.

Photo courtesy of Save-on-Crafts.com

This tabletop panorama is brilliant in its use of variegated, mottled, flecked and striated patterns to unify a variety of 2- and 3-dimensional forms.  It also demonstrates that provocative designs can be conceived from the most elemental tools.  Aucuba, sweet flag, nandina, lenten rose, florida anise, autumn fern, hawthorn, waxleaf privet, mahonia, magnolia and other foliage perennials, shrubs, and vines can combine with fruits and vegetables in unusual ways for inexpensive yet dramatic fresh floral centerpieces this holiday season.

Experiment with new ideas for combining form, color and pattern.  Where you offer a broad variety in one aspect, limit the variety in the others.  To apply this statement to the photo above, Morgan succeeds with his design despite the fact that five patterns and four shapes are used because unity is achieved by the discipline of a two-color palette.

Take pictures of your creations and send them to us.  Happy designing!