Fall is the time of year when the most common flowers of the season make for beautiful arrangements: chrysanthemums, zinnias, asters, and marigolds, their jewel colors vibrant against each other when combined in a vase. Of course, you can also use any number of other fall flowers for a different look, or go with something different: an herbal arrangement. The herbal arrangement for your dining room table will provide a delicious fragrance that will remind you of supper, but remain a decoration that visitors to your home will admire.
For the following arrangement, you will need the following:
Five sprigs of fresh rosemary
Crimson flag
Mint
Lavender
Gentian sage
Rosemary has long been used in Mediterranean cooking. It is one of the few herbs that makes a potato taste really good. Finer restaurants may use a sprig as a garnish with an entree. The sprigs that you use will have the tiny green needles on them; don’t remove the needles.
Crimson flag, or hespererantha coccinea, is not an herb but will provide the right amount of color to your herbal flower arrangement. A native of South Africa, this flower can adapt to warmer regions in the United States when grown outside, but also makes a great house plant, too. The flowers are usually red or pink. Use one or two stems of crimson flag for this arrangement.
Mint is found in many gardens and its pale pink flowers are what make this an important addition to this flower arrangement. As a perennial, the plant will reseed itself and spread in your garden, so you don’t have to worry about snipping several stems of this herb.
Lavender has a scent that makes it appropriate not only for cooking but for perfumes, soaps, and oils. The purple flowers form in small clumps on the stems and when added with mint, create a soft color combination. Use several stems of lavender for this project.
Gentian sage, or salvia patens, is a blue-violet flower that resembles the letter V laying on its side. It is an herb that attracts butterflies in your garden and makes a lovely cut flower. This will add the final touch of color in your herbal arrangement.
Set down the fresh herbs and flowers on a newspaper on your table. Cut the bottoms of the stems at an angle. Fill up your vase with lukewarm water before placing your final arrangement in it. Arrange the flowers so you have a pink, purple, blue, red, and green combination, with no two of the same color next to each other. After you set the vase in the center of the table, you can enjoy the unique combination of fragrances that comes from your herbal flower arrangement.
Image Credit: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
