A Year of Flowers: Blooming Inspiration for the Seasons & Holidays

Find a year of flowers with DIY floral arrangements and seasonal table centerpiece inspiration. You’ll find flower longevity tips, short cuts and techniques to create affordable arrangements using grocery store and garden flowers for the months, seasons and holidays.

Happy January and New Year!

Thank you for your visits and kind comments this past year! I hope that my little corner of the blogosphere provides you with some flower therapy and inspiration in the coming year, whether you’re cutting flowers from your garden or creating an arrangement with a grocery store bouquet.

Fun fact:

Studies have shown that flowers have the power to improve our mood.. . .not just receiving them, but growing them, arranging them or simply admiring them. The visual beauty of flowers triggers a release of ‘happy chemicals’ in the brain. . .dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.

I’ve armed myself with a blooming planner, page-a-day calendar and a wall calendar for a daily dose of ‘happy’. ;)

🌸 💐 🌷

We’re taking a look back at our year of flowers, with highlights from the months, seasons and holidays. You’ll find my flower friends links and their floral inspiration at the bottom of this post.

Click on the links in highlighted in red if you’d like to see the post in full or for the tutorial and tips.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure policy. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Transferware Love in the Potting Shed and Valentine Floral Inspiration

Flowers provide a cheery antidote for cold, gray winter days and Valentine’s Day offers the perfect excuse to treat yourself to flowers and be your own Valentine! Red and pink transferware add some additional blooms, along with carnations, hydrangeas, stock, mums, Charmelia and tulips, filling mason jars and pitchers.

Ball Collectors Edition Vintage Rose Canning Jars are pretty-in-pink with a wavy glass texture, ideal for a bouquet or blooming collection of flatware.

Note: These jars are shown as pink on the Ball Mason Jar website but are actually mauve in color as photographed.

Hopping into Easter Table with Blooms, Sweet Treats & DIY Bunny Napkin Fold

March’s theme was Easter, which calls for an eggstravaganza of egg-themed table décor, bunnies and blooms! Daffodils from the garden join tulips from the grocery store to fill a favorite pair of bunny cabbage vases for a celebration of spring bulbs and blooms. You’ll find tips on how to prevent Daffodils from shortening the life of other flowers in a mixed bouquet.

You’ll also find steps to create a Bunny Napkin Fold, carnation bunny cottontail optional ;)  🐇

Blooming Tabletop Fun with Peter Rabbit in The Potting Shed

Our common theme for April’s edition of Monday Morning Blooms was ‘Spring’. Peter Rabbit and friends hopped to the counter for a little tabletop fun to welcome spring and gardening season in The Potting Shed.

Floral garden gloves and tools join veggie seed packets, carrots, radishes and kale with tulips and cotton-tail hydrangeas in a watering can.

Mother’s Day Lakeside Table & Easy Teatime Treat: Lemon-Blueberry Scones

May brings thoughts of mom with Mother’s Day and I’m raising a teacup in honor of ‘Moms’ and celebrating with an aromatic floral tea blend!

A tablecloth with cheery yellow and blue and white floral print squares provided the floral inspiration for a bouquet of yellow daisies, Asiatic lilies, sunflowers, hydrangeas, spray roses,  Solidago (goldenrod) and Bachelor buttons, also known as cornflower. You’ll also find an easy recipe for Lemon-Blueberry Scones that start with a box of cake mix.

Fresh-Picked Garden Bouquets and Tabletop Fun on The Potting Bench

June is peak gardening season in our zone 8a garden. I celebrated with some tabletop fun on The Potting Bench with our frequent garden visitors. . . bunnies, birds and bees.

🐇 🪺 🐝

You’ll find fresh-picked garden bouquets in mason jars and blooming watering cans filled with Earth Angel Roses, Tea Clipper Rose, Popcorn Drift Rose, Knock Out Roses, Lamb’s Ear, Baptisia (False Indigo) and Hydrangeas.

How to Make a Shell & Floral Centerpiece for a Seaside-Inspired Table

July’s theme for Monday Morning Blooms was ‘seaside’. If you can’t go to the beach, bring the beach to you, via the table! I used a favorite ‘vase within a vase’ method for flower arranging, adding shells to the walls of the vases to add some interest and to conceal the flower stems!

 You’ll find the steps to create a flower arrangement and centerpiece incorporating shells to add some coastal charm for a seaside-inspired summer table setting.

How to Add Citrus to a Flower Arrangement & Table Inspiration

Our common theme for the August edition of Monday Morning Blooms was ‘citrus’. Adding lemons or limes to a flower arrangement adds visual interest, as well as a little aromatherapy!

You’ll find tips to create a flower arrangement and table centerpiece incorporating lemons and limes. You’ll also find additional citrus floral and summer table inspiration, as well as bonus citrusy desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Welcoming September with Sunflowers and Apples + Autumn Inspiration

Sunflowers are the perfect flower to transition from summer to fall with their sunny yellow rays and warm brown centers! Sunflowers join Limelight Hydrangeas, from the garden, along with apples and some grocery store blooms . . alstroemeria and yellow roses. Silver sage, wax flowers and hypericum berries were added for filler and texture.

The post includes additional floral and table inspiration incorporating sunflowers!

🌻 🌻 🌻

Pumpkin Blossoms Farms and Pumpkins on The Potting Bench

October’s arrival brings pumpkins which was our common theme. A sign provided a little fall inspiration and a nontraditional color palette of soft pinks to pair with the fall blush of Limelight Hydrangeas.

Pink spray roses, wax flower and alstroemeria from the grocery store join garden hydrangeas, Chaste tree seed pods and abelia foliage to make a blooming pumpkin centerpiece. Hydrangeas blooms join more abelia foliage to fill a pair of copper watering cans for some flower and pumpkin tabletop fun on The Potting Bench.

Easy Flower Arranging Method + Giving Thanks Alfresco Table

Our common theme for November’s edition of Monday Morning Bloom was ‘Thanksgiving’. You’ll find Thanksgiving table inspiration and tips to create a flower arrangement and table centerpiece using an easy flower arranging method with mason jars.

A combination of grocery store and garden flowers and foliage. . . mums in fall shades of rust and burgundy, join garden hydrangeas, Loropetalum, Abelia and Nandina foliage and berries.

Christmas Table by the Tree with Tartan Plaid, Bunnies and Blooms

We celebrated the Christmas holiday season for our December edition of Monday Morning Blooms. I used a vintage compote with a Santa and bunny from Fitz and Floyd’s Woodland Santa Collection.

Cedar, free-for-the-clipping, adds a little fragrance and wispy texture to soften the arrangement. Alstroemeria and hydrangeas from the supermarket, were added for some traditional red and white blooms, along with pinecone and ribbon picks, to create a table centerpiece to enjoy by the tree.

Two products I swear by for long-lasting flowers are Floralife Flower Food,

available in individual packets, a 10 oz. container, or liquid for easy mixing.

and Crowning Glory Solution Floral Spray.

If you’re not familiar with Crowning Glory, it’s an antitranspirant spray that seals in moisture and dries clear. It’s safe to use on all flower types and is especially beneficial for flowers that are prone to wilting due to moisture loss, like hydrangeas. I’ve had flowers that lasted for two weeks that were sprayed with Crowning Glory!

A new favorite tool is my Pillow Floral Cage Arranger. It works like chicken wire, without the sharp edges, so it won’t scratch the interior of a ceramic or painted bowl and it’s made of plastic, so it doesn’t rust. My floral cage is 6 inches wide, but it’s also available in a 4 inch size.

I use waterproof floral tape to secure the floral cage to the container.

Visit my flower friends to see their year in review and floral inspiration:

Pam at Everyday Living

Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.”

– Luther Burbank

Thank you for your visit, sharing at:

 Between Naps on the Porch