How to Make a Flower Arrangement in a Pumpkin
I have been waiting to do this tutorial for a while! The pumpkin centerpiece is one of my all time favorite flower arrangements to create. I used to make it with my floral design class and we would even sell them to faculty and staff at the school. It was a huge crowd pleaser and one of our favorite things to make all year long! The pumpkin centerpiece is the perfect addition to decorate your Thanksgiving table or to give to a wonderful host or hostess.
For this arrangement I use all fresh materials, including a fresh pumpkin! After Halloween you can get pumpkins at very affordable prices, or you can do exactly what I did and buy extra pumpkins for your front porch that can be used up to Halloween and then repurpose them to make arrangements for Thanksgiving. Just be sure to check pumpkins that have been sitting a while and make sure they are not getting moldy or rotten. Also on that note, make sure you wait to make this arrangement closer to the day you actually want to use it. Once you have cut the pumpkin open and put wet foam and flowers in the chances of the pumpkin starting to soften increase drastically.
I just love how this perfect pumpkin centerpiece turns out and I am sure you will too! Below I have included a list of materials and step by step instructions with pictures to help you along. I wrote the exact materials I used down, but use whatever kinds of flowers and greens you prefer or are available at your local store. Be sure to read the tips I included throughout as well. Have fun creating this one of a kind flower arrangement!
Materials:
- Small Fresh Pumpkin (about 8-10 inches in diameter)
- Plastic bag (a grocery bag will work fine)
- Block of wet flower foam
- Flower food packet
- Water
- Bakers/Leatherleaf Fern (about 15-20 stems)
- Roses (5)
- Chrysanthemums/ Daisy Mums (4-5 stems)
- Miniature Carnations (3-4 stems)
- Baby's Breath (1-2 stems)
Directions:
Cut open pumpkin and clean out seeds...
- Cut the pumpkin open in a rectangle shape, this will make it easy to put the piece of foam into the pumpkin.
- Clean out the seeds and scrape down the sides as much as possible.
- Try to dry off the pumpkin inside and out as much as you can to prevent any rotting.
Line the pumpkin with a plastic bag...
- This plastic bag will serve as a barrier between the pumpkin and the wet flower foam. It is really important to keep the pumpkin fresh as long as you can, which means not allowing tons of water inside.
- You will trim the bag in the next step, don't worry if it is a little large.
- Make sure the bag you use does not have any holes or it will not serve its purpose.
Fill a large pitcher with water, add flower food, and soak flower foam...
- I always recommend using flower food in water for arrangements, as it will help the flowers last longer.
- If you have never used wet flower foam before it is really cool! It absorbs a ton of water when soaked and holds it for a long time. Then you can put flower stems into it and they will hold in place and it will give the flowers water.
- Be sure when you go to soak the foam in water you just set it on top of the water and let it sink on its own, this prevents air bubbles from being trapped in the foam and it not getting soaked completely.
Once the foam is wet, place into the pumpkin, cut to size...
- Once the foam is wet remove from water and put into pumpkin opening. It should snuggly fit into the opening.
- Trim excess plastic bag leaving just a small amount as a barrier.
- Cut the top of the foam off so that there is only about 2 or so inches or so left at the top.
Use the bakers fern to green the arrangement first...
- You will be using the greens to cover the foam, make it look natural, and create a shape for the arrangement.
- Trim the pieces of stem with floral shears and give yourself plenty of stem to stick into the foam.
- Remember, once you put a piece into the foam it creates a hole and you cannot fix it.
- Start with putting some pieces into the sides of the foam near the pumpkin to cover the opening and plastic bag. Continue putting pieces in, layering it along the sides.
Continue greening the rest of the foam...
- To green the top I put a couple pieces in straight up first and then continue to add pieces to the top at different angles.
- Continue adding pieces of fern throughout at different angles to create a rounded shape.
- It's okay if you see some foam through the greens, just make sure it is mostly covered. You want to leave room for the flowers, but not have large areas of the foam showing.
Begin to add flowers to the arrangement...
- You will add the larger flowers first (sometimes referred to as mass flowers). They will create the shape for your arrangement. In this arrangement I used the roses as these flowers.
- Give yourself plenty of stem and cut the ends at an angle to make it easy to put them into the foam.
- Start with a flower at the top and center of your arrangement. It should come slightly above your greens and will set the height for the arrangement.
- Now place the other 4 roses each straight into each of the 4 sides of the foam.
Begin adding other flowers into the arrangement...
- Use those first 5 flowers to help you keep the shape of your centerpiece.
- I like to look at each side and see how it has created a triangle. I put a larger flower right in the center of the triangle at an angle to continue making the rounded shape.
Add the remainder of the smaller flowers to the arrangement...
- Place the flowers into the foam to fill open spaces and finish creating the round shape. Keep turning the arrangement to keep it even on all sides.
- Don't push the flowers in to the foam too far, then you will have a smaller and uneven arrangement. If flowers are looking uneven and not making the shape you want then slightly adjust them.
- Try and allow a little space between the flowers, they do not need to be all smashed together.
Add in some baby's breath to fill in the open spaces...
- This is completely optional, the flower arrangement does not necessarily need baby's breath or any other filler flower. Some people actually do not really like filler flowers at all, which is fine!
- If you choose to add the baby's breath only do small pieces at a time and make sure it does not crowd or overpower the other flowers. It is only meant to fill space and enhance the rest of the flowers.
Enjoy your perfect pumpkin centerpiece!
- Be sure to keep it in a place that is cool and does not get direct sunlight.
- You can water the flower foam a little if it is getting dried out. You can also spritz the flowers with some water.
If you make a pumpkin arrangement I would love to see your finished projects! Please feel free to share!
To learn even more floral arranging check out my tutorials:
