Let nature adorn your home
No doubt about it, this Thanksgiving will be like no other.
But whether you plan to enjoy a solo meal or dine with friends and family, you can add festive fall touches to your home that celebrate the season and incorporate materials from your garden.
Even if your only visitors are the Amazon delivery person and the occasional neighbor, some colorful fall decor will lift everyone’s spirits — including yours.
Here are some suggestions to inspire you, for both outdoors and indoors:
Outdoors
h Pumpkin tableau: Facing a demanding schedule or don’t consider yourself a designer? This project is pretty fast and easy.
Start by rounding up a passel of pumpkins — big and small; off-white and bright orange; smooth and warty; real and (shh) artificial. Grocery stores and farmers markets are great sources.
Then arrange them on your porch or steps, taking care to juxtapose sizes, colors and textures. If budget and space allow, add accents with potted mums, for instance, or lanterns with candles.
h Evergreen planter: Narrow evergreens such as arborvitae and upright juniper are classics for large porch containers year-round, especially when you have room for a pair flanking a door.
Update these standbys by underplanting them with colorful kale, dramatic ornamental grasses and cold-tolerant flowers such as pansies. As the
seasons progress, you can switch out the supporting plants and prune the evergreens to keep them in bounds.
h DIY wreath: Save a bunch of money and personalize your decor by adding your own autumn favorites to an unadorned wreath form, such as a circle of grapevine or a bare wire frame.
Surprising riches might be waiting in your yard, in a vacant lot or along a back road, such as dried flowers and seed heads, colorful fallen leaves and sculptural bare branches.
Use florist’s wire or a hot-glue gun to affix your findings to the form, then hang your wreath on your front door and prepare to wow neighbors and visitors.
Indoors
h Pumpkin vase: For a memorable centerpiece on the dining table or a festive arrangement for a foyer or living room, use a real, live pumpkin as the container.
Hollow it out first, just as you would for a jack-o’-lantern, then scrounge up an unobstrusive, watertight container that fits inside — a clean glass jar or plastic dish works well. The interior container will be what actually holds the flowers, stems or whatever else you choose.
Fill the interior container with fresh water, then keep your arrangement away from drafts and direct sun to prolong its life.
h Beautiful berries: If your yard includes trees or shrubs with showy berries or fruits, snip a few branches for an autumn display that almost arranges itself. Alone or combined with flowers or dried grasses, berry-laden branches lend an elegant touch with a harvest vibe.
Choices include crab apple; beautyberry, with striking purple berries; and deciduous holly, aka winterberry, with profuse berries in red or yellow.
Add to the impact by choosing an unusual vessel, such as a vintage pitcher or handmade vase.
h Table runner: Although a flower arrangement looks lovely on a table, it can hide the faces on the other side or make it a challenge to pass the greenbean casserole.
One solution: a table runner made of natural elements gleaned from garden, forest and field. Think of this project as a 3-D, collage-like tapestry featuring gourds, pine cones, acorns, feathers and similar items.
If children are part of your household, they will love contributing by going outside to search for treasures. Even during this weird year, they will end up with happy memories.
Diana Lockwood, a freelance writer covering gardening topics, posts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ mrsgardenperson.