Festive Fall Trifle - An Autumn Centerpiece

Hey everyone, I’m Erik Witcraft AIFD, and today I will share with you a creative idea for how to build an autumn centerpiece in a glass trifle container.

The flowers I will be utilizing today include the beautiful autumnal hydrangeas local to our area. Textural elements such as seeded eucalyptus, autumn joy sedum, and chocolate cotinus (smoke tree) foliage. I have a great assortment of flowers including dahlias, and gorgeous ‘Atomic’ roses. Let’s get started. To begin, I have placed a plastic liner inside this glass trifle. In the outside area, I have placed preserved fall leaves. Simply layer them around the outside.

A good trick, spray glue them to the outside of the liner to make it easy! In the center container, I have placed floral foam presoaked with floral preservative. Then just add water. Notice I have left a good amount of space around the foam inside the container. This will allow me to utilize flowers that are thirsty in the water, and other items in the foam. As a base, I am going to place these incredible hydrangeas into the container.

These will help anchor the rest of my materials in this design. These are best used in the foam. Next, I will add all the textural elements such as the autumn joy sedum, cotinus (smoke tree), and seeded eucalyptus. On with the color. Adding the dahlias in the water is the best place to put them. Just cut and place over the top of the hydrangeas. Next, I will add these gorgeous roses. Just give them a cut and place them in.

Even though this is already a beautiful arrangement, I have created these festive orbs to incorporate as a detail. As florists, it’s important to elevate your designs to really set yourself apart from everyone else in your market. Here’s a simple trick that will do just that. I have used a Styrofoam ball as the base. I have added preserved leaves to the surface using spray adhesive and Smithers-Oasis gold bullion.

I have made 3 of them in various sizes. You can anchor these in with wood picks, or simply use a woody stem glued in with Smithers-Oasis cold glue. Now we have a spectacular elevated fall trifle arrangement perfect for your customer’s table. Or great to use on a sideboard in the dining room where all the hors d’oeuvres are placed. Thank you for watching today. Be sure to join us next time, and have a great day!