FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Autumn Wreath

For this week on FLOWERS - Titti and I are doing Autumn Wreath.

Here in my part of the world - the Hydrangeas are still in full bloom and it's such a beautiful late summer early autumn flower to make wreaths and arrangements with. 

I found some hydrangea in a gorgeous deep pink colour - and some ornamental cabbage that had a centre with the same colour. 

In addition I got a few branches of snowberries with clusters of lovely big round white berries.

As always - I conditioned everything and left the flowers and branches to recover in containers with deep water outside my kitchen door.

I didn't want to use wire, moss or evergreen foliage as a base - but went instead for a ready-made grapevine wreaths for making my autumn wreath. 

I wanted to make a wreath just using hydrangea flowers - so I started by cutting the big flower heads into smaller sections. I then used thin florists spool or reel wire and wired each individual head by winding the wire around each little stem. I then pushed the wire through the grapevine wreath and secured it at the back.

It's a wreath where you can replace the flower heads or you can leave it to dry. Hydrangeas continue to look good and the fuller you make it the better it will look when dried.

  

Ornamental cabbages are great to use in flower arrangements at this time of year. I found some with very long stems which meant that I could use them in a tall terracotta container. I did cut one down and used just the pink centre in a little green cup. 

Ornamental cabbage has beautifully multi-coloured leaves - the end of the stalks and the veins are deep pink against a lovely green background.  

Snowberries or Symphoricarpos - as they are called in Latin - is a shrub in the honeysuckle family - and they keep their unusual white berries long after the leaves are gone. 

I used them in two ways - leaving the stems long in a tall container and cut down very short in an old jam jar. I then put the jar in the middle of another small wreath. Just showing another way to use a ready-made wreath.  

Titti over on HWIT BLOGG is also posting her Autumn Wreath post today - so please - go over and see her take on the theme. 
You can look at our previous FLOWERS posts here and you can also see them on Pinterest.

Have a Wonderful Floral Day!

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid 

[Styling and photography © Ingrid Henningsson for FLOWERS by ingrid and titti and Of Spring and Summer.]