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Fall Crafts from your Garden

Sometimes the simplest way of dressing up the indoors is a small donation from the garden. Fall is an ideal time for gathering supplies: an abundance of plants offer vivid colors and textures for harvesting. A simple vase of fall foliage or berries can offer as much color as summer flowers - and lasts longer.

Fall wreaths and candle rings are fun and easy to make. Sky carries the rings and wire, and we have a wide assortment of plants suitable for providing wreath materials if your current garden hasn't been planned for that. Dried hydrangea, lavender or herbal wreaths are traditional favorites. Use bright autumn foliage with nuts, gourds, cranberries, and apples. Berries are as decorative on fall wreaths as on holiday ones: try unusual colors such as lavender Callicarpa, blue Viburnum davidii, white to rose-blushed Symphoricarpos, or the many shades of red, orange and yellow available from the Pyracantha and Cotoneaster families. Or go for a subtle autumnal effect with grass plumes ornamented with unusual seed pods: magnolia, clematis, poppy, lunaria....

To make your wreath, use light-medium gauge wire. Securely attach a section onto each item, leaving a tail long enough to bind it onto the wreath form. Fruit and gourds are better attached by drilling a hole through which you can thread the wire. Work your way around the wreath until you have it as full as you like. Candle rings are made the same way, though remember to avoid using flammable materials like twigs or leaves if you're planning ever to light the candle!

Gourds are also perfect for other fall decorating projects. Cucurbita (soft skinned) gourds come in a variety of bold fall colors and vary greatly in shape, but they are consistently small in size. They last for several months once harvested. Their shapes and color are so diverse that just a simple assorted basket of gourds is inspiring. If you didn't grow your own, the farmer's markets should have a good supply. (And remember next year to pick up some seeds!)

The other type of gourd is Lagenaria (hard skinned). They start out green on the vine. Once picked, the shell hardens and turns beige. They are larger in size than the cucurbita gourds and are commonly found in birdhouse and bottle dipper varieties. Hollow out the gourds, then dry and paint them, and you have vases, birdhouses, decorative ladles... the possibilities are endless. One fun thing to do is to plant winter pansies in a hollowed out gourd. Talk about biodegradable containers! Outside and under cover, they will not break down too quickly. And when you're tired of it, just compost the whole.

So go out and take a wander around your garden... and the local farmer's market... and Sky... to see what colors, shapes, and textures you can bring indoors for use!

By Lydia Smith
Skylights Autumn 2008, Vol 23, No. 3

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