When friends and family gather around the table during the holiday season, lingering over a delectable meal and good conversation, it's the best of times. Set the scene with a mix of favourite dishes, a tablecloth or runner and an eye-catching centrepiece that conveys the spirit of the season.
Nothing says Christmas like a poinsettia or decorations in red and green, but don't feel limited to a traditional theme or colour palette. If your tabletop could use some flair, spice it up with a tablescape that channels your inner gardener or love of the outdoors.
Tatiana Penner, designer and owner of Oak & Lily, a flower shop on Corydon Avenue, says there are three different criteria most people look for when they are choosing a flower arrangement for their dinner table. Attractiveness is important, but so too is fragrance (or lack of) and especially longevity.
A popular trend this season at local florist shops is to combine traditional flowers such as amaryllis, roses, and carnations with more unique and exotic flowers such as protea and leucadendron. In one arrangement, Penner combines amaryllis, ruffled Hearts garden roses and white Casablanca lilies with seasonal elements such as stems of bright red ilex berries, alpine huck, and skimmia with its clusters of berries and glossy green leaves.
Looking for something reminiscent of the summer garden? Consider eryngium (blue thistle) with its unique prickly texture, old-fashioned Queen Anne's lace, richly coloured peonies, or hydrangeas accented with silvery Dusty Miller and chartreuse-coloured Bells of Ireland. Parrot tulips and ranunculus with intriguing kangaroo paw make an elegant statement but may be harder to find unless they are pre-ordered about two weeks before your dinner party.
Last-minute requests, though, are usually accommodated as imaginatively as possible. Single-blossom arrangements, a white spider mum perhaps, at each place setting, and a ring of cedar beneath the dinner plate will dress up your table every bit as much as a lavish floral arrangement.
Ornamental kale is one of the hottest trends in this year's holiday floral arrangements, its voluptuous layers of creamy green-tinted leaves overlapping to form large, rounded rosettes with deliciously pink centres. Quite affordable, too, and so lovely as a single flower or used as stems in a vase.
Clear glass vases are always apropos but pedestal bowls with a metallic finish can add a lustrous sheen to your holiday table. Julie Pritchard, owner of the Floral Fixx, says finishes in copper, silver, and rose gold or bronzy gold are trending in everything from fashion to home decor. A can of spray paint can restyle and revamp an existing metal or wood container.
If your preference is for foliage, select a mix of greens and dress it up with pine cones and berries. Pritchard also likes to use dried lotus, eucalyptus and scabiosa pods together with cedar, spruce, and stems of toyon berries for a woodsy, natural feel. Adding cotton branches with raw cotton bolls, like a tuft of soft snow, will be sure to get your guests' attention.
Both Penner and Pritchard say it is key to add fresh water daily to your flower or foliage arrangement. To maintain your display in premium condition for when company calls, don't place in direct sunlight and if possible, store in a cool room, as heat accelerates the bloom cycle.
While floral preservative is designed to prolong the life of flowers, Pritchard cautions against its use unless it is used exactly as directed on the packet. If the ratio of preservative to water is not correct, says Pritchard, more harm than good is done.
Of course we know what the ultimate outcome is for cut flowers, no matter how beautiful.
Consider a potted orchid, always elegant no matter the occasion. Everspring Orchids, located in West St. Paul at 2868 Pipeline Rd., is a premium source for orchid lovers, and is closed only on Christmas Day. Customers can select from a range of orchid plants, even arrangements that combine two or more orchids.
Ariel Lin, owner and orchid aficionado, says that while orchids come in a wide range of colours, classic white is the most popular choice at this time of year. For the longest lasting flowers (up to three months) and greatest ease of care, choose a phalaenopsis orchid. Other species are available, some with fragrance, such as cymbidium.
Orchids prefer a consistent temperature. Lin recommends avoiding cold or warm drafts. "Never keep orchids near a bowl of fruit," says Lin. "The ethylene gas emitted from fruit can cause a premature dropping of the orchid buds." Live Christmas trees also release ethylene over time. Lin recommends watering in the morning, about every seven to 10 days, taking care to not overwater.
Terrariums in all sizes and shapes are another great choice for decorating your table long after the holidays. Pritchard suggests putting yourself into the details and delighting young and old with a bit of wit and whimsy in your selection of coloured mosses, glass baubles, and miniature elements that tell a story. From elegant (and expensive) Wardian cases to sizable ginger jars, terrariums are readily available at most florist shops and garden centres. Choose from ones that are fully dressed for the holidays or make your own statement.
Small, globe-sized terrariums are inexpensive and easy to decorate with a layering of sand, small stones, coloured reindeer moss and low maintenance plants such as tillandsia (air plant) or succulents.
Deanne Cram, manager at Shelmerdine Garden Centre, says air plants have caught on. Their bizarre shapes look like something out of Star Wars.
A great conversation piece and exceptionally low maintenance, Cram says misting twice a week is all that is required. In addition to mosses, gravel and coloured sand, Cram suggests filling the bottom of your terrarium with fake snow. Fresh greens add aroma. One option is to snip a small branch from one of your evergreen trees.
Succulents are everywhere. No longer relegated to the summer garden, succulents now do double duty year round indoors and outdoors. From moss-covered purses to teapots brimming with succulents such as echeveria rosettes and hens and chicks, the beauty of this type of centrepiece, says Cram, is that you can dress it up for any occasion. Come summer, take it out into your garden or patio.
Decorating on a shoestring budget but want something that will warm your room with a cosy ambience? No problem, says Ryan Sudom, owner and designer at Blue Hills Design on Academy Road. "There's so much you can do with lanterns," says Sudom.
Bring your lantern in from outdoors or purchase a grouping of small lanterns. Begin by sitting them in the centre of a festive or rustic-style table runner, says Sudom, then build greenery around the outside of the lanterns with a mix of woody stems and pine cones. Candles and berries inside the lanterns, adorned with a bit of ribbon, provide the finishing touch. If scented candles are too much for you, Sudom says that flameless Reallite candles are an ideal alternative.
Sudom says birch bark is still a huge trend. More and more people are spending the holidays out at the lake and are turning to birch bark for that rustic, woodsy feel. Sudom likes to mix a few moose and fir-wtree silhouettes made from hand-cut birch into holiday tablescapes.
If you don't have time to whip up a table runner patterned with red roses, green foliage and ribbons of ivy, a length of burlap is all you need. Sold in a roll at As Time Goes By on Academy Road, cut to any length you need.
For that warm holiday glow, battery-powered string lights will set the mood at your dinner party. Weave them through boughs of live or faux greens on your table, around floral arrangements or fill lanterns and glass vessels. A twig-wreath ring with tiny white lights on a six-hour timer available at As Time Goes By would look lovely around any centrepiece. And if scented candles are for you, the top-selling candle at As Time Goes By is buttered maple syrup.
