Thanksgiving Flowers
Have you ever noticed that all the major holidays (except July 4th) fall outside of the growing season? Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Easter all take place when the garden is bare. Thanksgiving is the holiday that I host for our family and I always want to decorate the house with flowers but there are no fresh flowers to be found from the garden. This used to get me down, until I visited Portugal for Thanksgiving.
In Portugal, there are flowers everywhere in November but they are all dried flowers! My eyes were opened by all the dried flowers on display in shops around Lisbon and even at Noah’s Surf Hotel. The Portuguese used dried flowers to decorate holiday season and they made them look elegant and modern.
Dried flowers may not look like much in September, compared to the colorful dahlias in bloom, but come November when the gardens are asleep, dried flowers hold their value by bringing texture, color, and form indoors. Grocery store flowers for Thanksgiving lack seasonality and are somewhat blah, so here are some ideas on how to weave dried flowers into your home this month. And I think you’ll be surprised with how much you enjoy them all winter long.
Pictured below from Portugal—arches made of dried hydrangeas and ferns, dried bouquets hanging from ceilings, puffs of baby’s breath in cafes, dried Queen Ann’s Lace dripping from chandeliers, boutiques using dried flowers to decorate windows and shoe displays.
I came home from that trip inspired. So out to barn I went to make arrangements with anything I had on the drying racks. To my surprise I had so many ingredients on hand— hydrangeas, roses, amaranth, marigolds, statice, crespedia, and I even started chopping down grasses in my yard. The arrangements added texture to rather flat areas of our master bathroom, pops of color in our dark power room, and little moments on our bookshelves. I fell in love with dried flowers after that trip and it sparked a new enthusiasm to not give up on real flowers for Thanksgiving—use real dried flowers! Nothing faux or flown. I’ve been using dried flowers ever since and I change them out every year to keep it interesting. Here are a few places around the home to be of particular interest for dried flowers:
Front Doors - hang a dried flower wreath on an exterior door or indoors above a mantel, down a hallway, or on a garden gate that welcome people to you space.
Table Centerpiece - make a low arrangement for the dinner table that you can enjoy all month.
Foyer, Masterbath, or Kitchen island - find a large vase and make a statement piece out of a single mass ingredient. Think grasses!
Powder Rooms - try a small bud vase to add a pop of color for small bits.
Gifts - make a homemade card out of pressed flowers or leaves or bring a dried bouquet to your Thanksgiving host.
Aromatherapy - try floral and citrus essential oils as they are uplifting and help support seasonal depression. Our new Lemon & Rose Geranium soap is perfect for this.
Thanksgiving has become more meaningful over the years—from a deeper appreciation for birds that are harvested in November, to seeing the beauty in all stages of a life, and to consciously putting down roots like tulips when its cold. Instead of holiday parties, you’ll find me next to my family near the fire or in the kitchen making up for the lack of cooking over the summer. Now as the earth is “inhaling”, try giving the earth your gratitude this Thanksgiving, and watch as it reciprocates in a spirit of generosity next spring.
Garden Blessings,
Gina