Non-Floral Flowers???

The other day when I was out shopping with my MOH, we tried to brainstorm some “off the wall” ideas regarding the new centerpiece holders that I had. I was really trying to avoid fresh flowers completely for two main reasons:
1. They tend to be expensive
2. They don’t last – it’s a waste of large amounts of money to be thrown away the next day - I can’t hold onto the centerpieces, so the flowers would be thrown away immediately
With this motivation, I was really searching hard for some inspiration.

As luck would have it, MOH stepped right in and helped me out. We had stopped by a local nursery in San Antonio the pick up some seeds for MOH’s sister. While there, MOH came up with the suggestion to put a potted plant into the centerpiece instead of fresh flowers.

What was that? A potted plant? This was something that I hadn’t thought of…

Hmmm….what kind of potted plant? Well, something with a little bit of height to it, but also something that would be sort of “wispy” to provide some droopy branches for a romantic feel. This sounds REALLY far-fetched to me, so don’t feel lost!

We looked through their selection while at the nursery and came up with a favorite first choice. The maidenhair fern. It’s small, delicate and very green. The leaves are even almost heart-shaped, which the romantic in me goes ga-ga over! And since it’s a fern, I shouldn’t (strongly stress the SHOULDN’T) be able to kill the plant. My green thumb tends to lean more towards the black side of green. What’s that? You didn’t know green had a black side? In my world it does!

Anyway, we tossed the idea back and forth. I didn’t like the idea of just a potted plant alone in the centerpiece, so MOH said to mix the potted plant with a few stems of fresh flowers to add color and flowers, but without everything being completely floral. Hmmm…an interesting concept.

While at the nursery we played around with some flowers mixed into the fern, but couldn’t hit it just right. In the end, I decided that I really did like the fern (even if it didn’t work for what we were thinking), so I bought it to take home and try it out. If it looked horrible, then no harm no foul, I get a cute plant out of the deal.

Throughout this whole process, keep in mind that MOH hasn’t actually seen the centerpieces. She was totally working on my description of them. I don’t know whether to congratulate her for her visionary skills, or to pat my own back for my excellent descriptions…

Either way, this is what we ended up with.

I’m not thrilled with it like this. I decide that the problem is that the plant sits too low in the centerpiece. Since I bought the smallest one they have, I know in my head that a larger fern might do better.

I tried to work with it, to see if I could copy MOH’s visionary skills, but alas, I can’t get over how awkward it looks.
Ignore the paper ball squashed into the bottom of the vase, I was trying to lift the plant. The problem? The plant couldn't sit flat on the paper ball, and it kept falling off to one side...

I even tried to add a flower into it to see what I think…it’s just not quite right.

Maybe that flower's too big?

I think that I have to stop by another nursery and get the 6” plant and see if I like it better. It should be taller, fuller, and not sit so low in the holder.

Now to find a local nursery…man, the places you go when you’re planning a wedding!

Have you had any off-the-wall ideas for your centerpieces? Does anyone else agree with me that maybe fresh flowers aren’t the way for you to go either?