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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece

Tuesday, November 19, 2019


What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than with a natural centerpiece that reflects the season of the year? While fruits and vegetables harvested in the Fall make beautiful centerpieces, don't overlook colorful trees and natural foliage as options for an inexpensive alternative. 


Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece ideas for natural foliage on a small table
With a handful of leaves, twigs, and acorns, you can create an arrangement for your holiday table... even for a small table.




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece using leaves, twigs, and acorns on a French Country table
Thanksgiving in the United States is a time to rejoice on the abundance in our lives and to reflect on our blessings with family and friends gathered around a table with seasonal fruits and vegetables. 




Thanks to Amber at Follow the Yellow Brick Home for gathering more than 20 blogging friends to share ideas for what many consider their favorite holiday of the year. There are links at the end to all of the posts as part of We Gather Together Thanksgiving Blog Hop.  

If you are coming from Cindy at County Road 407, welcome! Cindy is a joy to read and has a great idea for the best hostess gift ever, don't you agree? 




T H A N K S G I V I N G   

N A T U R A L   C E N T E R P I E C E 


Here are some tips and ideas to help you create a natural centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table, or buffet, or shelves, ... 


Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece using leaves, twigs, and huge Bur Oak fringed acorns
Inspiration for a Thanksgiving centerpiece began with the biggest and most striking acorns I have ever seen! After some research, I discovered these woolly-haired huge acorns are from a Bur Oak tree that produce some of the largest acorns in the United States. 



Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece using Bur Oak twigs with fringed acorns attached
Two small branches were gathered with the fringed acorns intact a couple of weeks ago. The leaves have dried and curled, but retain much of their green color. 



Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns include tips to prepare foliage by washing it before using it in arrangements
The first step in creating the centerpiece was to place the two branches on a rectangular narrow serving platter.

No, the first step was to wash all the leaves, twigs, and acorns to remove dirt and any hitchhikers. Be sure to always wash any foliage you bring inside. Not only is there dirt, and possible hitchhiking insects, the foliage may also have chemical residue from pesticides and fertilizers. 


Art imitates nature.

Three gold berry leaf metal ornaments scattered amidst the natural oak leaves add a little gold sparkle to the arrangement and help stabilize the oak twigs. 



Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns from more than one tree or shrub to add variety to your arrangment
If you pull together a natural centerpiece, add more than one kind of leaves. The shape, size, and color of the small Japanese maple branches brighten the arrangement. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using colorful Japanese leaves
Only two small Japanese branches were needed to make the arrangement more interesting. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips show how to use colorful Japanese leaves around a large acorn
The acorns are still the stars in the centerpiece and are not overshadowed. Notice how the bright yellow and orange leaves surround the acorns, but do not cover them up. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns on a small table with room for conversation
More gold berry leaf ornaments serve as plate decorations and hold place cards. The natural centerpiece fits easily between the place settings and is low enough for conversations across the table. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns show the back side of the centerpiece
All sides of the arrangement are pretty to see. This is the "back side," and the small Japanese branch has many variegated leaves visible on this side. A gold berry leaf ornament is partially on the white platter and partially spills onto the table. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns show a few acorns lying outside the centerpiece
A couple of large individual acorns have escaped over the edge of the platter on this side. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns include using the shape of the leaves to decide the position of the branch
The curls of the leaves determined how to position the larger of the two oak stems. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips for using twigs, leaves, and acorns with footed blue etched glass
A gold berry leaf ornament stabilizes this end of the arrangement. There is a large fringed acorn attached to the oak stem on this end, but is hard to see in the photo. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips shows large Bur Oak fringed acorn in the centerpiece
With a close-up photo, you can see the details on the large fringed Bur Oak acorn on this end of the centerpiece. 




Thanksgiving Natural Centerpiece tips shows large Bur Oak acorns in centerpiece on French Country table in a breakfast sunspace

I hope you found some ideas and tips to help you create a natural centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table. Begin by collecting acorns, dried flower stems, dried berries, and other bits of foliage. Soon you will have an assortment of natural elements to create a free seasonal centerpiece. After this Fall's centerpiece is dismantled, save all the bits and pieces of the natural elements to reuse next Fall. 


happy Thanksgiving from my table to yours...


Next up on the blog hop is Katie at Let's Add Sprinkles. She has several ideas for decorating for the season. 



Read all of the following posts for more ideas to celebrate Thanksgiving at your house. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!