Decorate with "flowers"-- part two.

Part one of this series dealt with vases. In Part two, I discuss what wonderful whimsical things to put in those vases. And why I keep putting "flowers" in quotation marks.

First, as I said in part one, it pays to think outside of the "fresh flower bouquet + vase = decor" equation. There are lots of other ways to incorporate plants, botanicals, and even fresh flowers into your decor:

If you love fresh flowers, consider bud vases. On a dining room table, place a bud vase with a solitary flower in each at each person's place setting. Or, group a bunch of bud vases in the center of the table. If you group them, make them coordinate but contrast to make this work: go for the same color vase but in different heights and/or shapes, or the same shape but in different colors. This is much more visually interesting than a plain solitary vase with a sad little bouquet from the bodega. : (


I love Chiasso's pear vases as bud vases to use at each person's place setting. Remember part one, though-- anything can be a vase. Use classic drinking glasses as bud vases!

Another idea for fresh flowers is to carefully take the flower tops off the stems and float them. Three or four floating in a big bowl is nice. I also love solitary flowers floating in vases or cups.

For whimsical centerpieces, big, naked branches are great. Manzanita is known to wedding planners the world over. These sturdy and pretty branches can be used as centerpieces or in a vase. I like them naked in the middle of a table, but you can hang small votives from the branches, or decorate it with the tops of real or fake flowers. If you want it in a vase, get a large one, like a giant candle hurricane, and put it on the floor-- big branches looks better resembling a majestic tree than trying to pass itself off as a flower. You can buy nice branches at florists, but Blooms&Branches have a great selection of manzanita, grapewood, and Ghostwood.

Similarly, dried grasses, fun-looking twigs, dried plant pods, and pussy willows are widely available. A bunch of one kind of these in a tall, cylindrical vase looks fresh and modern and goes with any room decor. Blooms&Branches has a good selection of pods, pussy willow, curly willow, and the like.

Another more whimiscal alternatives to fresh flowers are fake flowers. But stay away from cheap silk ones-- you can usually tell, and these make you look like your couch should be covered in plastic. Beaded flowers and glass flowers all look gorgeous, and celebrate the fact that they are not real (ie, you're not trying to pass off silk flowers as the real thing. . .).

Another idea is paper flowers. Pop Flower Shop makes really cute, statement-making arrangements. One in the bathroom and on the guest room nightstand would look great, and they never die!


Blooms and Blossoms, again, also sell their own version of fake flowers that look much more elegant than cheap silk ones. I love the 1" B&B Special flowers and the Sola Ming Roses. .

I have an almost fetishistic love for succulents. These are also really hardy-- you only have to water them once ever 1-3 months! Put them in the sun and you are good to go. They always look fantastic to me. There are numerous directions online for how to make your own "succulent garden"; not that it's hard-- buy a bunch of different succulents, remove them from the plastic containers, and re-plant them in a nice looking planter. I especially love them clustered together in a bowl or long, narrow planter. I'm working on one using Jamali Garden's slate tray. If you're not a DIY-er at all, Greenware Design's Etsy shop makes small, beautiful succulent gardens in handmade pots.

Finally, air plants are something you don't see everywhere. They are even less work than succulents, as they don't need water or soil! Plop a bunch of these beauties on a gorgeous tray or plate, or place individuals in clear glass vases. I lurve Viva Terra's Recycled Glass Terrarium with air plants. Another option to make your own is to use Sprout Home's glass orbs . Air plants can be found online and in florist shops.