Pumpkin flower arrangements are a fun and chic way to set the table for fall festivities, including Thanksgiving and Halloween. Grab some warm-toned flowers from the garden or the grocery store, and pick a pumpkin that calls your name!
I keep seeing these gorgeous pumpkin flower arrangements at florists, farmers’ markets, and online. A collection of blooms tightly packed into a bright orange pumpkin just screams “fall.”
It’s an elegant take on fall decorating: setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner, adorning the mantle for the season change, or even to give as gifts.
I know I would love to receive one of these gorgeous pumpkins, and they will be just as rewarding to give! Here’s how you can make your own.
Use pumpkins of all sizes and shapes to really make it your own.
How to Make Pumpkin Flower Arrangements
With flower arranging, the artistry is in the design, and it’s not as easy as it looks. But if you want to take a stab at creating your own pumpkin flower arrangement, then here is how to do it.
Keep pumpkins cool and shaded to help them last longer.
Make It!
Cut the top off your pumpkin so that you have a fairly wide opening near the center of your pumpkin. Scoop out the guts and make these addictive Roasted Rosemary Pumpkin Seeds.
Line the inside of the pumpkin with a sheet of plastic. This will hold some of the moisture in when you water the floral foam.
Cut a piece of floral foam with the knife to a size that will fit inside the pumpkin. Soak the foam in water while you prepare your flowers (soak it, don’t dunk it!).
Make sure to use wet flower foam, not dry flower foam.
Choose flowers with strong, straight stems that are freshly cut, either from the garden or a purchased bouquet.
Insert the floral foam into the inside of the pumpkin and create your arrangement. Start with flowers, then add leaves, berries, and other embellishments to create a full and interesting arrangement.
Use garden clippings to make it extra seasonal.
Items collected from the garden will shine in a new way when displayed in a pumpkin vase like this one I spotted at Vancouver florist Flowerz.
Save the top of the pumpkin for an extra unique arrangement.
You can even pop the top of the pumpkin like on this other creative arrangement. Hold it on with a piece of floral wire inserted into the floral foam (also from Flowerz).
Save the succulents once the pumpkin begins to decompose.
I even made up one with some tender succulents for my garden. As the weather starts to get cooler, the succulents won’t survive outdoors, so why not bring them in, plant them in a pumpkin, and enjoy them for as long as you can?
I didn’t use floral foam for the succulents, but instead filled the inside of the pumpkin with indoor potting soil. I do this for my outdoor pumpkins every year. You can see a whole bunch of them here.
Pumpkins don’t have to have all of the fun; this works well with gourds, too!
Pumpkin Flower Arrangements FAQ
How long do the pumpkins stay fresh?
It depends on a few factors, like how fresh it was to begin with and what the conditions are. But I would say a good estimate would be 1-2 weeks. Keep the pumpkins cool and away from sunlight to help them last longer.
How far in advance can I make these pumpkins?
Like all fresh flowers, they look best when freshly made, so I would try to make them no more than 1-2 days in advance. The arrangement should then look pretty for another 1-2 weeks, depending on the flowers and the temperature they are stored at.
More Ways to Use Pumpkins
A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants.
Hydrangeas are a beautiful shrub with an old-fashioned appeal, yet they fit into the modern garden seamlessly. Possibly the best thing about hydrangeas is you can enjoy your lovely blooms indefinitely. Here’s how to dry hydrangeas so they keep their colour.
With so many varieties, colors, and even bloom shapes, you’d easily be able to find a hydrangea that suits your garden (as long as you are lucky enough to have the right climate, of course!). You can enjoy them both on and off the plant too!
The problem many people have with hydrangeas is that they become limp before they can dry out. Hydrangeas have a tendency to lean towards the drama, but they’re actually quite easy to both hydrate AND dry once you know how to do it.
Hint: You’re not going to hang them upside down.
This is the simple method that I use to dry hydrangea flowers and keep their hue.
Parts of this hydrangea have already gone brown, so it’s a little late for cutting and drying.
Dried Hydrangea Colours
Of course, you won’t retain the same vivid colour that you have on the plant while it’s growing in the garden. The colour that you can achieve on a dried hydrangea is more of a muted set of greens, grays, blues, pinks, and purples that look beautiful when displayed together.
The other thing to note is that the climate and temperature at which the hydrangea shrub grows will affect how much colour is retained in the dried flower. It’s not a perfect system, but ideally, you are looking for a healthy plant grown in appropriate conditions. You can read more about that in my essential guide to hydrangeas.
Did you know you can easily change your hydrangea’s blooms from pink to blue (or vice versa)? Here’s how you can make your hydrangea change colour.
Hydrangea flowers come in many different hues, all creating antique, muted versions of themselves once dry.
When to Cut Hydrangeas for Drying
Mother nature and plant care aside, timing when you cut the blooms is the most important factor that you can control. If you leave the hydrangea heads to dry on the shrub, they can lose all of their color. If you cut the blooms too early, they can wilt (as opposed to dry with the petals retaining their shape).
In order to retain the most colour, you will need to let flowers partially dry on the shrub first. Depending on when your plant blooms, you should start checking on the flowers mid-way through the bloom time.
The colour will be fading, but they will still hold most of their shape, and they will start to take on a papery feel. Try cutting hydrangea blooms when there is still some colour remaining to get a dried flower with a colour that lasts.
These blooms have begun to dry and fade in colour and this would be the ideal time to cut them for drying.
How to Dry Hydrangea Flowers
Remove all of the leaves from the stem (or at least the part of the stem that will be submerged) and put the flowers in a vase with an inch or two of water.
Place the vase in a cool area, away from direct sunlight. The water in the vase will help to slow the drying process; the bloom will be preserved better with a slower transition. Once the water is gone, it will be completely dried and will last indefinitely.
You can touch the preserved hydrangea heads to see how dry they are. They should feel papery.
This way of drying hydrangeas takes about two weeks.
The same hydrangea dried!
What to Do With Dried Hydrangeas
Dry hydrangea flowers are very delicate, so it is often better to create your craft or dried flower arrangement before they dry. That’s precisely what I did with this hydrangea wreath. I made the wreath with partially dried blooms and allowed the drying process to finish on the front door! See how to make the wreath here.
You can also add in other dried flowers if you want more variety.
I love using dried hydrangea flowers in all kinds of crafts, including this dried flower arrangement. If you don’t have a large stem, you can add some by using a bamboo skewer and florist’s tape to extend the stem of your dried hydrangea flowers.
FAQ About How to Dry Hydrangeas
How do you hydrate hydrangeas?
Before you can dry your hydrangea flowers, they should be as hydrated as possible. After cutting them from the shrub, immediately put them in water.
Once inside, cut the stem again and, this time, place it in boiling water. Make sure the steam can escape. In this case, boiling water is extremely helpful in forcing the stems to drink water.
Hydrangeas can also drink through their petals, so people soak their flowers in a bowl of water. While this method works great for fresh hydrangeas, it doesn’t work for flowers that are already partially dry, which is what we’re going for after cutting the hydrangeas.
Should I spray dried hydrangeas with hairspray?
Once dried completely, you can spray any dried flowers with hairspray. Ensure it’s cheap and clear…don’t waste the good stuff. This will help to create a protective layer over the petals so they’re not quite as delicate.
How do you keep dried hydrangeas from crumbling?
When the hydrangeas are dried, they’re extremely delicate. I recommend making any arrangements slightly before the whole flower is dried, as it will be stronger. As above, spray with hairspray and keep away from heat and sunlight to prolong the life of your dried hydrangea flowers.
A cut flower garden is one of the most rewarding spaces you can grow. I mean, who doesn’t love flowers?! Whether you plan to grow them to enjoy yourself, to give to friends and family, or even to sell and make a profit from, here’s how to start a cut flower garden from scratch.
Sometimes, I can’t believe that I exist in a world where flowers grow. The fact that these beautiful-looking and even more gorgeous-smelling things exist naturally in nature is nothing short of a miracle.
While I don’t grow many cut flowers in my garden, I admire everyone who does. Flowers are one of the most in-demand crops and one of the more maintenance-intensive ones. But we can’t deny just how rewarding it is to harvest their blooms!
Today, I’m featuring one of the best cut flower gardening experts, Lisa Mason Ziegler. She owns The Gardener’s Workshop and has been growing flowers commercially since 1998.
Before you get started with any physical preparations, it’s a good idea to think about what kind of plants you want to include in your cut flower garden.
Make a list of your dream flowers based on what you want to grow and what can realistically grow in your zone.
In her book, Lisa describes both warm-season and cool-season annuals. Both complete their lifecycle in a year, but they require different growing conditions.
“Warm-season tender annuals thrive when planted and grown in warm to hot conditions,” says Lisa. They include flowers such as amaranth, celosia, cosmos, hibiscus, marigold, sunflowers, zinnia, and more.
“Cool-season hardy annuals thrive when planted and grown in cool to cold conditions,” says Lisa. They include the likes of baby’s breath, bachelor buttons, carnations, feverfew, foxglove, larkspur, poppy, snapdragon, statice, sweet peas, yarrow, and much more.
Limit how many different types of flowers you grow in your first year or so. Plant only a few types, but plant them in abundance. Really nail down the conditions, timing, and care before you expand. Otherwise, you’ll be overwhelmed.
Yarrow comes in many colours and is very drought-tolerant.
When to Plant Cut Flowers
It’s important to know whether or not you’re dealing with warm or cool-season annuals so you can plant them at the right time.
“Planting outside the recommended seasonal weather conditions can result in seeds and transplants that are shocked and stressed, which delays the sprouting and growing process,” says Lisa.
When you plant seeds too early, you either waste seeds that never sprout or end up with mediocre plants susceptible to disease and pests.
“Cool-season annuals have varying planting times, depending on the garden’s low winter temperatures,” says Lisa. “Finding the best planting times for your conditions may take a little time and practice, but it is worth it.”
Don’t skip out on this extra time just because these flowers may not be as straightforward. Some are planted in fall, others in winter, and some in early spring. They can get you some of the year’s earliest flowers.
As for warm-season annuals, you’ll want to pay attention to frost dates and temperatures. Lisa notes, “The weather signal I wait for to begin transplanting outdoors is the moment when nighttime air temperatures reach 60°F (15.5°C) or above with soil temperature at a minimum of 60°F (15.5°C).”
Nigella are great cut as a flower but also have aesthetic dried seed pods for arrangements.
Succession Planting
I’ve always been a big proponent of succession planting. I use it for many of my annuals, including vegetables. But it’s also one of the best tools to use for a cut flower garden.
Succession planting is when you stagger planting seeds. So rather than start all your zinnia seeds at once, you start some now, sow more a couple of weeks later, and another batch two weeks after that.
If you plant everything all at once, they’ll bloom all at the same time. Succession planting allows you to stagger the harvest and make it much more manageable. It will also prevent some of your flowers from going to waste.
“To practice growing a three-season cutting garden, whether a small bed or an acre, you must remember that, to keep this garden producing and as weed-free as possible, plantings should be pulled once they begin to decline to make way for the next planting,” says Lisa.
Dahlia and other bulb flowers can also be great for cutting gardens.
Choosing a Bed Location
Realtors and cut flower gardens have one thing in common…they’re always screaming location, location, location!
If you’re building a bed for your cut flower garden layout, you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the right spot on your property.
Almost all cutting flowers require full sunlight. You’ll need plenty of sun to get as many blooms as possible, and to keep any disease from thriving in moisty, shady locations.
It’s also important to make sure your bed is accessible. Cut flowers are not low-maintenance, so you’ll need to make sure you can access them from all sides. Avoid placing your bed next to any structures, as this will make it difficult to access and block valuable sunlight.
Also, ensure your water source is nearby. You don’t want to have to lug around a hose every time you want to water your flowers or create a tripping hazard thanks to a drip irrigation trail.
Delphinium comes in all kinds of beautiful jewel-toned colours.
A Note on Bed Size
You don’t need much space to have a productive cut flower garden. In fact, when it’s smaller, you pay more attention to it and remember to harvest the flowers often. This results in more productive plants.
For a beginner cut flower gardener who is growing flowers at home, Lisa recommends having two beds, with each being 3 x 10 ft. (0.9 x 3 m).
“Narrower beds are easier to reach into the center of and are low where the harvest cut is made, helping prevent us from stepping on the bed during harvesting,” says Lisa. “A 36-inch (90 cm) wide bed works well, with my beds getting narrower as I age to reduce the reaching and bending distance.”
Calendula is very easy-to-grow cut flower, as well as a skincare herb.
Preparing Your Cut Flower Garden Bed
Most cut flower gardeners grow their flowers in raised beds. “I grow in raised beds because it is easier to improve drainage and soil quality,” says Lisa. “Beds can have either framed sides made with lumber or just mounded soil with no framed sides.”
The next most important aspect of a cut flower garden is soil quality. Poor soil conditions can affect output. Flowers require soil with plenty of nutrients, good drainage, and the ability to retain moisture.
Keeping up soil quality is an ongoing process. Add natural soil amendments and compost, as well as fertilizer, if necessary, to keep up the soil conditions.
Mulch is also great for feeding the soil, preventing weeds, and retaining moisture. When you disturb the soil, you bring weed seeds to the surface and allow them to sprout. Always apply a layer of mulch afterward to prevent these weed seeds from popping up.
It’s also a good idea to set up irrigation. While the flowers should be able to tolerate some drought, a watering system will be necessary. Rather than hose everything daily, it’s best to set up irrigation.
“Low pressure irrigation systems like driplines and T-tape are long lasting, easy to install, and use little water,” says Lisa.
Small urban gardens can have a flower stand, like this one by my friend Holly.
FAQ About Cut Flower Garden Layouts
How much space do you need for a cut flower garden?
The recommended bed size for home gardens is 3 x 10 ft. (0.9 x 3 m). Go smaller, but don’t go larger. Anything larger will be difficult to access and maintain. You want to be able to reach all the flowers to allow you to harvest them easily.
Can you do a cut flower garden in pots?
If you plan to grow flowers to sell or for any commercial reason, it will be difficult to grow enough flowers in pots. But as a home gardener, you can grow many of these flowers in pots and cut them to bring inside. Just make sure the pot is deep enough, has quality potting soil, and has drainage holes.
How do you prepare a bed for cut flowers?
The more fertile your soil is, the better. Adding in organic amendments such as compost, manure, dried leaves, and green manure will help to increase the soil quality. They increase nutrient levels, retain moisture well, and provide good drainage.
It’s also recommended to add a layer of mulch. This will prevent weeds from growing and help retain moisture. Landscaping fabric acts in the same way.
And that’s everything about setting up a cut flower garden layout! The next steps are to actually start your seeds and care for them. For a complete guide on how to design a cut flower garden and for more resources on specific flowers, be sure to check out Lisa’s The Cut Flower Handbook.
