IN full bloom | part 2 autumn
Floral project for autumn
Creating a richly coloured autumn wreath with seasonal flowers, berries and vegetables
Published in Country Living Magazine, October 2018
Words and styling by Bea Andrews / Photography by Eva Nemeth
As the growing season is coming to its high point, our thoughts turn to picking, gathering and making the most of nature’s bounty, as well as our hard work throughout the year. With the temperature dropping, days shortening, plant growth slows down and our sense of urgency dissipates. It is time to pause and admire the full-blown glory of late summer and celebrate the turning of the seasons with an autumn project, capturing the feel of abundance surrounding us this time of year.
Wild foraged and cultivated plants
With the hedgerows laden with bright, ripe berries and plenty of richly coloured foliages around, each selection can really reflect the varied shapes, colours and textures of the local landscape. Hawthorn and sloe berries, rosehips, Sorbus, Cotoneaster, Viburnum, Ilex and Photinia with their good range of colourful fruit are all suited for floral displays.
Unexpected seasonal ingredients from the garden or vegetable plot, such as bolting brassica plants, kale leaves, herbs, fruit and flowers look great in autumn arrangements. Many edibles are also very decorative, making them excellent multipurpose plants. One of my favourites in the vegetable garden is red orach (Atriplex hortensis rubra). Its young leaves can be added to salads and when mature it makes a tall architectural foliage plant with racemes of tiny flowers, often used in floristry. Later in the year use its dry seedpods to decorate with. Ferns, tawny grasses, dried flowers and seed heads will create a muted background and wonderfully offset the rich reds and purples of the irresistible jewel-like colours of dahlias.
Making an Autumn Wreath
create a natural wreath base by twisting long bendy, leafless stems of wisteria, willow, dogwood (or similar) into a circle
for foraged ingredients, check what is available to collect on your walks around your local area. I used a selection of wild red crabapple branches (similar to Malus robusta “Red Sentinel”), ornamental grape vine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), native hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) branches with their dark sloe berries. Arrange 3-4 stems of each together with a few dried fern leaves in a semi circle onto the wreath base and secure with wire or twine
add home grown produce from your garden or allotment: I picked hops, purple perilla, dill flowers, flowering stems of chard and seedpods of red roach (atriplex) and rocket. These will create another layer of interesting texture
for that abundant autumn feel, add brightly coloured dahlias, artichoke heads, mini pumpkins or other small but painterly vegetables and fresh or dried hydrangea flowers. The stems of these can be inserted through the wreath. Use wire or twine to fix them into place. To prolong the life of your fresh blooms, insert their stems into small plastic tubes filled with water when attaching them to the wreath. Or you could leave them to dry naturally as they age.
