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Holiday in bloom

Make your Thanksgiving table as bountiful for the eye as it already is for the palate with some floral arrangements and symbols of fall.

By YVONNE SWANSON, Special to the Times
Published November 18, 2006

Collections of roses are an elegant way to bring fall color to the table.
	[Times photo: Bob Croslin]

We like to think of the first Thanksgiving as a shared meal between Pilgrims and American Indians celebrating the first harvest. Tables were laden with turkey, potatoes, pies and the like, including a big cornucopia, or horn of plenty, overflowing with produce from the Pilgrims' bountiful first harvest in the New World.

Great story, but not true. That first gathering in Plymouth in 1621 didn't become an annual event until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of thanks. Even then, it took decades for Congress to declare Thanksgiving Day a legal holiday in 1941.

Historians aren't even sure that the Pilgrims and Indians ate turkey. It's more likely they had wild duck, geese and venison, along with fish, boiled pumpkin, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams and plums. No mashed potatoes. No sweet potato pie. No cider.

As for table decorations, there's more research linking the horn of plenty with the ancient Greeks than with the Pilgrims. "The actual first Thanksgiving was quite different from the pictures painted with stories of that time. We have not been able to find any information about whether or not there was decoration on the tables," says Jennifer Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Society of American Florists in Alexandria, Va.

So much for tradition. Perhaps this is the year to keep that big cornucopia in the closet and update your Thanksgiving table and buffet with a more contemporary, simple look. With flowers and accents in soft autumn hues and sleek, updated vases, your holiday table will still celebrate life's bounty, but your elegant decor will not overwhelm the meal.

Wil Simoneau, co-owner of the Flower Centre of St. Petersburg, has designed several arrangements using calla lilies, orchids and roses for the Thanksgiving table and buffet that you can easily make at home. Rather than using one large centerpiece, he suggests grouping several small arrangements, mixed with scattered fall leaves or colorful croton leaves. Even small fresh or decorative pumpkins and gourds can be placed among the grouping.

"There's not a hard, fast rule about grouping," Simoneau says. Don't worry about odd-vs.-even number of containers or perfect positioning. If the grouping looks balanced and doesn't overwhelm the table, it will look like the work of a pro.

Check your cupboards for modern glass containers. Cylindrical and square glass vases or cubes are popular new looks, says Simoneau. Because the arrangements are small, you can use glassware, such as highballs and stemless wine glasses. Clear and colored glass or crystal vases (amber, tortoise, gold and orange are ideal for autumn) are easy to find at local stores.

A recent shopping trip to Home Goods in St. Petersburg uncovered a good selection priced from $3.99 to $14.99. Wal-Mart had pretty colored glass cylinders starting at just $2.99.

Next you'll need flowers in warm fall colors and accents, such as curly willow branches and tea berry branches. You can purchase fresh at a local florist, grocery or some discount stores. Prices will vary, but you could spend as much as $5 per stem for orchids and roses, $7.50 for a calla lily stem and $4 for tea berry stems. Fresh curly willow can cost about $15 per bunch. Of course it depends on where you shop and the flowers you choose.

Another option is mixing good-quality silk stems with the fresh, which can save money and be used over and over. There's no rule about mixing the two, and florists do it when price or availability of a certain flower is a problem, Simoneau says. Silk flowers at a JoAnn craft store in St. Petersburg on a recent shopping trip were priced at the following: calla lily stems ($2.99 to $5.99), rose stems ($1.99 to $6.99), orchid stems ($2.99 to $7.99), red berry bunch ($9.99) and big bunches of curly accent stems ($3.99 to $6.99).

"All of these groupings would look great with the addition of gourds or preserved fall leaves on the table," Simoneau says. You can purchase a bag of fresh, miniature gourds and pumpkins at the grocery for less than $5, or invest in china or papier-mache ones.

The Flower Centre carries Dept. 56 papier-mache gourds and pumpkins ($3 each) that look like the real thing, as well as china pumpkins in warm tones of peach, cranberry, cream and brown ($12.50 each). Don't forget craft and discount stores; many have autumn decorations on clearance to make room for Christmas merchandise.

Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.

HOW TO

Create a fall roses centerpiece

What you'll need:

- Three clear-glass square vases or cubes, varied sizes.

- Fall-hued roses: peach (Big Fun), cherry/peach (Cherry Brandy) and yellow/orange (Circus)

- Cut roses to a uniform length and arrange in each vase. Fill close to the top with water. Change or add water daily.

Calla lily cylinders

You'll need:

- Three 9-inch cylindrical clear-glass vases

- Calla lilies, in shades of bright yellow (Florex Gold), deep wine (Schwarz) and yellow-bronze (Mango)

- Chocolate brown hypercium (tea berries) or fresh cranberries

- Curly willow branches

- Raffia

Place tea berries or fresh cranberries in the bottom of each cylinder and mix calla lilies with curly willow branches. Tie the cylinders together with raffia for a centerpiece, or spread individual cylinders out along the table. For the buffet, make a matching piece using the same flowers in an 18-inch cylindrical vase.

Autumn orchids

You'll need:

- One colored-glass water pitcher

- Two small glass vases or cubes

- Orchids: red oncidium, bright yellow vanda and yellow/orange dendrobium

- Yellow rose heads (Skyline)

- Gold yarrow

- Mini green hydrangea

Place red oncidium orchids in pitcher for center of table. Flank with colored-glass cubes, one with bright yellow vanda orchid stems and the other with yellow rose heads. Immerse yarrow and hydrangea at the bottom of each cube and fill with water. Make a buffet piece with an 18-inch cylinder filled with multiple stems of yellow/orange dendrobium orchids.

Yvonne Swanson

[Last modified November 16, 2006, 12:11:28]