Looking for a quick centerpiece for Thanksgiving? An Autumn European Dish Garden is quick & easy to make!
European Dish Garden – doesn’t that sound elegant? Are you curious to find out what makes a dish garden “European”? The secret behind a European Dish Garden is simply in the way it is put together and what types of plants are used.
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How to Create An Autumn European Dish Garden
By definition, a European Dish Garden combines green and blooming plants. They are left in their individual pots and grouped together in a single container. Because the plants are going to be kept in their individual pots and watered individually, you don’t need to pay attention to differences in water requirements like you would if you were planting plants together in soil. When watering the plants, make sure you water into each individual pot. I use a watering can with a slender spout (sometimes called a gooseneck spout) to reach in to the pot.
How to Put the Autumn European Dish Garden Together
The first step when designing a European Dish Garden is to choose your container. You can use any type of container you want. Please take into consideration where your finished European Dish Garden will be sitting. If the container is not watertight, you will want to add a liner or something that will catch the water, so it doesn’t leak on to your furniture.
To make this Autumn European Dish Garden, I started with two wire “baskets” and a terra cotta saucer.
Actually, one of the “baskets” is the front cage off of an old fan! I found this treasure at one of my favorite shops in Illinois when I was “home” working on the downsizing project a few years ago.
Be sure to measure the inside of the basket or container that you are using so that you use the proper size terra cotta saucer if necessary. I used a 10 inch saucer in my dish garden.
Now that we have the container part of the European Dish Garden ready, let’s talk about what plants we will use!
Autumn Blooming Plants
Fall & poinsettias aren’t words that you would normally find in the same sentence! In fact, when I had the flower shop and I suggested to my assistant that we use the Cinnamon Star poinsettias in Thanksgiving dish gardens, I was immediately shot down!
Cinnamon Star Poinsettia
But I was apparently ahead of the trend! Since moving to Florida I have discovered Peach Glitter poinsettias that actually have a tag that reads Fall Poinsettia! Here it is by itself. I just love the peach color!
Peach Glitter Poinsettia
I also found one labeled “Copper”. I am in love with it too!
Copper Poinsettia
While shopping for the poinsettias, I also picked out a couple of Fall colored kalanchoes that I thought would look good in the dish garden.
For today’s project, each of the plants will be in a speed cover. The speed cover will catch any water that runs through the pot when it is watered. I could have put each of the pots in a terracotta pot (without a drainage hole) but in order to keep things simple, I just went with the speed covers.
Once the plants are in their speed covers, it is thyme to put the garden together!
Since the two poinsettias are the largest of the plants, I decided to place them towards the back of the arrangement.
Next, I added a 4 inch pot of angel vine in the empty spot. I like to use the “thriller, spiller and filler” method of planting. In simple terms, the thriller is the focal point, the spiller adds motion and the filler fills in the “holes”. This time, I used a few pods to act as the filler.
Once these plants were in place, I realized I only had room for the 4 1/2 inch Kalanchoe!
I decided to use the 2nd kalanchoe in a decorative ceramic pot. I added a couple of sprigs of the copper colored leaves to help fill in the plant.
Once everything was in place, I wrapped a garland of copper accented leaves around the base of the arrangement.
I filled in a couple of empty spots with some gold colored pods. The pods were originally brown. To give the pods a more festive look, I sprayed them with floral spray paint. I used Design Master 14K Gold spray paint that I have had from my days as a florist.
Here is how the dish garden looked once I had it all put together!
Save This Pin for Later!
How to Care for Your Poinsettia
One of my blogger friends, Stacy, has an amazing website. In fact, I have told her that I want to be her! She has a great post about caring for poinsettias that gives you all the information you need. Please check it out !
A Final Look
If you liked this project, here are some links to other similar projects!
European Dish Garden With Fall Poinsettias
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