Your green thumb is not, but you love the concept of an extremely visible flower arrangement in your home. Rather than a standing arrangement with the florist, find a fabulous floor vase and fill it with dried flowers, grasses and branches to bring some nature inside without all the drooping and dying. Experiment to find out what goes together with the manner of the vase — and what type of vase complements your furniture — then pick stand-out dried flora to produce a huge statement in the room.
Jugs and Jeroboams
Giant glass wine jugs or vacant jeroboams are ideal floor vases in a little space or on a hardwood flooring. The translucent bottles appear less large than an opaque vase of similar size — and a textured floor, such as handmade Mediterranean terra-cotta or tiled mosaic, will gleam through the glass. Stand a handful of dried purple Alliums from the outsized jugs — the distinguishing pom-pom flowers on tall dowel-like stalks are small sculptures in themselves. Dried, the blossoms will last through the long, dreary winter, till you can replace them with new, live Alliums from the garden in summertime. Put a floor vase of Alliums where they won’t be deceived into, or attacked by a powerful wind from an open door, to maintain them intact.
Classic Chinese
Slide a plastic container within a beautifully painted Chinese ceramic cylinder — the type frequently used for umbrella stands to create a floor vase. Dried flowers will not need the plastic safety but it will not make the vase a lot easier to wash without moving, and a waterproof inner lining lets you switch out to reside blooms once the occasion requires it. Arrange dried curly corkscrew willow branches in the cylinder; they’re naturally twisty and yin enough to go together with the exceptionally decorated vase. Add some stalks of pussy willow for variety. During the Lunar New Year party, invite more fortune into your home by tucking a sheaf of cherry blossom divisions in one of the curly willow or at its place.
Historical Patina
A cast aluminum and burnished bronze contemporary version of an ancient Greek amphora blends seamlessly with contemporary or traditional decor in the hallway or a corner of the dining area. A mixture of dried cattails and papyrus brush adds even more texture to the vase while preserving the low-key neutral palette. Dried lotus pods are just another showstopper that will not overpower the metallic vase but will surely grab focus. The nesting circular seed pods are wide with symmetrically arranged open cups that may or may not hold lotus seeds. The pods will most likely outlast your home — the seeds are known to germinate over a thousand years after the flowers bloom.
Eye of the Beholder
A length of terra-cotta drain pipe or a vintage galvanized milk may be prosaic room accessories that are extended on visual appeal. Either becomes a floor vase for dried flora in a rhythm. But do not just things the opening full of scented lavender or eucalyptus. Give those humble containers the royal treatment with a bouquet of peacock feathers spilling languorously out of the top. Bunch dozens of the feathers together for maximum effect. Tuck really tall grasses of Indian crowd grass amid the feathers for more height — cluster grass stands 3 to 4 feet tall. A pretty change-up for spring and summer might be peacock feathers and dried blue hydrangeas — the vibrant “eyes” will poke up taller than the massed delicate blossom clumps in eastern, state or exotic decor.