November
2006
Bring
the richness of Fall into your home.
By
Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein
After a few false starts, fall finally reached its full
color, and now Thanksgiving is around the corner. Kitchen
smells are spicier least in my home. we're spending more
time gathered together over cups of hot cider and bowls
of homemade soup. I love this time of year with its crisp
air, warm scents and cuddly clothing. I recently asked
Wyncote landscape designer Brad Baker of Baker Creative
how I can bring the richness of the fall foliage into my
home, particularly as I prepare large family meals. Look
no further than your own yard, was his advice.
"Look out your window at what's in your yard for ideas of wonderful ways
to blend what's outside your home into the festivities within," explained
Baker, as he took me on a tour of my yard, pointing out the colorful array of
options and suggesting artful ways to display simple branches and stems.
To Baker, my Dogwood was the beginning of a sculptural exhibit, created with
cut branches placed in a clear glass vase among colored glass beans (I used my
son's Mancala game pieces). For a second arrangement, he clipped some Burning
Bush and replaced the glass beads with small gourds, cautioning me that their
life span would be short, but they should stay beautiful for the dinner guests
I was expecting the next evening. Situated on the set table surrounded by votives
in glass holders, the colors of the gourds and the branches were brilliant.
Knowing the pace of my days as a working mother and business owner, Baker suggested
I create some longer lasting vignettes with branches of colorful berries and
vines. The advantage of these materials, I learned, is that they do not need
water to thrive once they are cut. The leaves, however; must be picked off the
plant, or they will brown, shrivel and eventually fall off. However, the berries
will stay on the plant for many weeks.
Baker encouraged me to clip several branches with berries from a fragrant Viburnum
I planted when my daughter was born, a choice that makes me smile every time
I glance at it. He often makes such arrangements with rich red Bittersweet berries
on the vine and Winterberry Holly. Ornamental grasses and stems can also thrive
indoors without water and help, add drama to an arrangement.
"Look out your window at what’s in your yard for ideas of wonderful
ways to blend what's outside your home into the festivities within."
Growing up, I loved my mother's colorful Hydrangeas, masses of pink, white, blue
and purple all summer long. It turns out that what appeals to me in the summer
- the complement of colors, sizes and shapes - makes this common shrub one of
Baker's favorites when creating cold-weather arrangements.
"There are a dozen different kinds of hydrangeas with varying sizes of seed
and flower heads, in so many shades of pink, purple and brown," says Baker. "Take
off the leaves and the seed heads will last indoors with no water for months.
The variation in size and color will give you depth and interest."
"Look
out your window at what’s in your yard for
ideas of wonderful ways to blend what's outside
your home into the festivities within." |
The Shrub Willow,
another common plant in this region, offers some of the
most vibrant color – not in their
seed heads, but in their stems, which vary among shades
of red, yellow and orange and often twist gracefully. The
architecture of these stems, like that of vines, can make
these ideal for creating a wall hanging or even a decoration
for the mantle.
My herb garden, planted in containers on the deck, was Baker's final destination.
Encouraging me to get every last second out of my herbs, he recommended we take
some of the basil, rosemary and lavender inside before the first freeze. Baker
clipped stems of each and arranged them in inexpensive, colored glass bottles
on my windowsill, releasing their fragrance throughout my kitchen.
In past years, I have traipsed through home and garden shops at this time of
year, looking for artistic adornments to bring nature inside. This year, I saved
a lot of money, not to mention reducing my time spent in stores, and most importantly,
I also was able to enjoy the fruit of my own labor as I found ways to weave a
harmonious web between my home's exterior and interior. I just need to work up
the nerve to ask my mother if I can clip some of her precious Hydrangeas.
