The last lovely smile...

“Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.”

William Cullen Bryant

...and also my favorite time of year (although if you live on the US East Coast, it's been a pretty soggy,dreary autumn).  However, as much as I want to draw out the color and fragrance and delicious vibe of the season, I have to move on to the next.  So today's blog will be my last, lovely salute to this lovely smile.

This is a centerpiece I threw together for an outside table. As you can see, there is a myriad of different gourds which provide color, texture and visual interest ( I LOVE the bumpy green one!), some mini mums and cabbages which I popped into small pots and bittersweet vine. To give the height and structure needed for this space, I used my client's cake stand as a prop. Add some tall fall candles and it's balanced, colorful and cozy.





I took the same theme inside to the home's fireplace mantle. It is amazing the difference a few well placed and well colored gourds make. Again, I used the bittersweet and grapevine to add a pop of color and substance.











I wanted to hang something at the kitchen entrance to dress it up, so I made this from hydrangea (grown on the property), bittersweet, grapevine, feathers and ribbon. Simple and pretty.

























One of my favorite things to do at the end of summer is to remove all the tired flowers from the containers and window boxes and reinvent them for fall. Here I used this gorgeous purple cabbage as the focal point then surrounded it with peppers, miniature mums, small white cabbages, and bittersweet vine. To give it a bit more height and fun, I put the lighted twigs in the back. So this arrangement looks good during the day and has a lovely, soft glow at night




Last, but certainly not least, are the fabulous cornstalk pillars. I LOVED making these (although they were physically pain to do). I put them at the entrance to the property and they were really welcoming. For smaller properties, one would work, but here, three was just right. Part of the fun was getting all the tiny pumpkins to encircle the pillars - a local boy had grown them to make money for his college fund: I bought him out so it was doubly good.






This is just a sampling of what you can do to celebrate Autumn. I had such fun with every project.