A Sunny Transitional Flower Arrangement + Upcycled Flower Frog

Create a flower arrangement with this easy flower arranging hack and upcycle, using a garden center plant tray as a flower frog.

Happy Friday and Hello September, I’m so glad you’re here!

Fall is my favorite time of year! As much as I’m ready to embrace the season, our 90 degree temps are a reality check and reminder that it’s *not quite* sweater weather.

Since we’re several weeks away for mums, fall foliage and pumpkins in my neck of the woods, I’m joining my blogging friends with a sunny transitional arrangement for this week’s edition of Floral Friday!

You’ll find their links for more floral inspiration at the bottom of this post.

For this transitional arrangement, I used a flower arranging hack, upcycling a garden center plant tray as a flower frog.

I normally return my plastic garden trays and pots to Lowe’s for recycling, but after staring at this tray in my return pile, I had a light bulb moment. . . a flower frog!

The plastic pot ring is more substantial than chicken wire for supporting flower stems and a great alternative to floral foam for arranging flowers as it can be used over and over.

I used wire cutters (also referred to as diagonal cutting or side cutting pliers) to snip through the plastic tray holding the round pot ring. Wash the pot ring thoroughly before using so it’s free of any bacteria that would shorten the life of your flowers.

This particular plant tray/pot holder was 5 1/2 inches in diameter and fit snugly about a third of the way down in my urn.

I started with Limelight Hydrangea blooms that have made the transition from summer to fall and taken on a burnished hue. My blooms about a week away from the perfect texture for drying, when the petals beginning to feel ‘papery’.

I found Kangaroo Paws, a new-to-me fun flower at the grocery store. I added them along with yarrow in rust and gold, for some seasonal fall color to the arrangement.

I love sunflowers this time of year. The large brown centers with the sunny yellow rays are perfect for September when it’s supposed to feel like fall, but still summer outside.

Sprigs of lorepetalum cut from the shrubs add a pop of burgundy color. To use foliage from your shrubs in a flower arrangement, cut your greenery in the morning when it’s fully hydrated and not water-stressed from the heat. To keep your foliage from wilting, condition it first, allowing it to sit in a bucket of room temperature water for several hours or even better, overnight.

The petals of purple coneflower are gone but the dried flower seed heads add some fall interest and texture to the arrangement.

I added a grapevine wreath to frame the arrangement for some welcome texture, adding additional hydrangea blooms, lorepetalum,  coneflower heads and gourds.

It’s still early to find gourds at the farmers’ market here, but I harvested more than two dozen from our ‘garden surprise’. I pulled the vine up a couple of weeks ago when it wrapped around our juniper and started heading for the roof! It was still producing gourds and growing like gangbusters.

If you’ve ever wondered if gourds are easy to grow, I can tell you they are. Just give the vines room to sprawl or climb.

Visit my talented blogging friends to see their floral inspiration this week:

Pam at Everyday Living

Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse

Shirley at Housepitality Designs

Thank you for your visit, sharing with:

 Metamorphosis Monday