For this centerpiece, I began with an arrangement of roses, hellebores, begonia leaves, and ranunculus. We then added in privet berries and cranberries to bring in texture. I find that adding berries and fruit to a centerpiece can also give your arrangement a more complete feeling.
When picking what fruit and berries to use in an arrangement, it’s important that all of the elements feel cohesive. You’ll want to make sure the color of the fruit complements the flowers and foliage you are using. Another important consideration is seasonality. You wouldn’t want to use strawberries for a winter arrangement or citrus in the fall, for example.
For this arrangement, the color of the cranberries brought out the burgundy of the ranunculus and also acted as a nice contrast to the golden color of the roses.
I love this detail of the hellebore and privet. I found the markings on these privet berries to be so interesting and unique.
Here, I combined anemones with garden roses and ranunculus and then brought in pears, pomegranates, and crab apples to make the arrangement feel extra lush. I like the way the color of the crab apples on the table mirrored the color of the ranunculus in the arrangement. I used a dark footed pedestal bowl to add contrast and to allow the natural elements to shine. I let some of the pear leaves fall onto the table to tie together both planes.
Tour Martha’s Rose Garden
This is an arrangement I made for a wedding this past summer, but it’s a good example of using berries and fruit to add lushness and depth to a centerpiece — the dark colors would also work really well for a winter celebration. I loved the way the pomegranates, figs, and plums brought an overflowing and luxurious look to this table.
For this wedding, the bride we were working with wanted the arrangements to be inspired by Dutch still-life paintings, so we also used nuts and grapes and allowed them to cascade onto the table in a very decadent way. These elements also give the feeling of abundance, which worked well, because this bride wanted to encourage her guests to grab fruit off of the table to snack on throughout the evening. While I love this idea, be sure you are using edible fruit and berries if your guests plan to nibble. Quite often the fruit sold at a flower markets is decorative and has been sprayed heavily with pesticides. We sourced these elements from local farms.
Some of my other favorite elements to use are citrus like kumquats and oranges in the winter and almost any types of berry in the summer. Apricots, peaches, and apples can be great too!
Can you think of other fruit and berries that would pair well with flowers for your winter centerpiece?
See More Winter Flower Arrangements
SOURCE:http://www.marthastewart.com/1501407/berry-pretty-winter-centerpieces