Looking for a quick Mother’s Day centerpiece? Simply fill a farmhouse dough bowl with a selection of blooming plants!
Since flowers are a traditional Mother’s Day gift, why not fill a farmhouse dough bowl with a selection of plants for your centerpiece? After the celebration is over, your guests can take one of the plants home with them or you can give them all to your Mom or other family member!
Don’t you think your Mom or other loved one would love this? I know mine would if she was still with us!
Happy Mother’s Day
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What is a Dough Bowl?
Dough bowls get their name from their original purpose: making bread dough! An antique dough bowl was a great place for the bread dough to rise as the wood helped retain the heat which in turn helped the dough rise. Every kitchen had a least one dough bowl and they were often times handed down through the generations. Antique dough bowls are also sometimes referred to as trenchers. Now, instead of being used to actually make dough, they have become a decorating staple especially for Farmhouse decor.
They come in different shapes and sizes. In my personal collection, I have a round one, an oval one, a square one, a rectangle one, a couple of heart shaped ones and even one shaped like a Christmas tree. One of my favorites is an extra-large one that is over 3 feet long!
This is going to be the base for today’s rustic farmhouse dough bowl project. It fits great on our dining table in the lanai. It would look amazing on a farm table, well any table actually! And guess what! I actually found a farmhouse style folding table on a recent trip to Round Top, Texas!
I also found a divided carrier and a small piece of architectural salvage! I was so excited to find all of these things! I am going to use the carrier inside of the dough bowl for the first part of the project!
A girl can never have too many wooden carriers! Wooden carriers and rusty garden tools are two of the things I collect. More details about my fondness of wooden carriers can be found here: Worn Wooden Boxes, Old Carriers and Cool Rusty Things!
How to Design a European Dish Garden
If you have been following me for a bit, you already know that I have a fondness (ok maybe it is an obsession) with European Dish Gardens and dough bowls! Since this particular “project” is a loose interpretation of a European Dish Gardens, let’s review the concept of a European Dish Garden.
The beauty of a European Dish Garden, besides being so easy to make, is that you can combine plants that have different watering requirements together in one container since you are keeping them in their own pots. I generally use the concepts of the European Dish Garden when I am preparing a centerpiece for a specific event, like this Mother’s Day brunch or when I need a unique hostess gift or present for a friend or family member.
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.
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 small terra cotta pot but in order to keep things simple, I just went with the speed covers.
In case you are new to the blog, I was a florist in a former life as well as a pizzeria owner. I like to say I have a passion for flowers (a former florist) and flour (a former pizzeria owner) and many things in between! Especially rusty and chippy items!
back to our project….
If you are concerned about dampness between the speed covers and the dough bowl, you could line the dough bowl with plastic wrap or skip the speed covers and go with terra cotta pots with saucers.
Let’s go to the Greenhouse!
The next step in designing a European Dish Garden is choosing your plants.
Since I am making this arrangement for a Mother’s Day brunch, I wanted to choose plants that would remind me of my mother. I lost her a little over 10 years ago. More about my Mom can be found here How to Grow Pansies in a Pot
Dianthus or Mini Carnations
Dianthus are also known as “Pinks”, The name “Pinks” comes not from its color but from the frilly edges that look like they have been cut with pinking shears! They are also very fragrant. They have a spicy, almost clove like scent.
Dianthus is a very resilient plant. They will thrive in full sun or partial shade as long as they get at least 6 hours of sun. Dianthus can be planted directly in the garden or used in containers. Avoid getting water on the leaves and stems of the plant. Water directly into the soil.
If grown organically, the flowers are edible! Just the flowers though, don’t eat the foliage!
In the Language of Flowers, Dianthus has several meanings. Love, admiration, passion and affection are some of the meanings. I share a very quick introduction into the language of flowers here:Tussie Mussies and the Language of Flowers
It isn’t extremely fond of high temperatures so it may not bloom in the summer. Simply trim it back and it will rebloom in the fall when temperatures decrease! Please check out this post for more information about my favorite summer bedding plants! Summer Garden Bedding Plants
I picked out three plants: two variegated pink ones and one deep burgundy one.
Blue Evolvulus – Morning Glory
Blue Evolvulus is a tender perennial in the same family as the Morning Glory. It has lovely blue blossoms. The leaves are small and oval in shape. I love how wispy it looks!
It is a true blue color. Blue blooming plants are very hard to find. The small blossoms of the blue evolvulus are similar to the forget me not plant. Today I am going to call these faux forget me nots just to fit with my “story”. Artistic license or designer’s rules or something like that!
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 goose neck spout) to reach in to the pot.
Let’s See How They Look
The five plants look so cute in the divided carrier! I added the old book to the vignette. The cover is just so pretty!
Angel Vine
One year when I still had the flower shop, one of the Mother’s Day themes was “My Mom is an Angel(vine)”. I love to add the wispy green plant to patio pots. I also love to grow angel vine on a topiary form. Since our farmhouse dough bowl arrangement is for Mother’s Day, I decided to put this angel vine topiary in a white pot and display it on an old piece of architectural salvage. Angel vine is just such a sweet little plant! I really love using it!
Putting the Farmhouse Dough Bowl Dish Garden Together
This couldn’t have been much easier! After wiping out the dough bowl, I simply started adding the plants! There really isn’t a right or wrong way to place the plants. I did want to highlight the angel vine so I placed it in the center and first put the faux forget me nots (Blue Evolvulus) around the angel vine.
Then I decided to move the Blue Evolvulus to the ends of the dough bowl and add the dianthus closer to the angel vine. I tucked in a flower pot at the end and added the old book in the front.
Close up of Blue Evolvulus
The Book Cover
Save this Pin for Later!
A Last Look
I really like how the Mother’s Day Forget Me Not Garden Style Dough Bowl came together. In case you are wondering about the oval placemat tucked in the front, that is another nod to my Mom’s memory. She loved to put contact paper on everything! She covered a set of plastic placemats with this herb themed contact paper years ago. I kept them as a reminder of her.
She even had the top of the farmhouse kitchen table covered in herb contact paper!
Other Posts You Might Enjoy:
“Orange” You Glad She’s Your Mom?
Why I Love Dwarf Morning Glory
Red & White European Dish Garden For Spring
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Your dough bowl looks great with the flowers, Kimberly! I think I am the only person who doesn’t have a dough bowl! Have a great start to your week!
Thank you, Kim! Dough bowl collecting can be very habit forming! I still think I need a few more! Have an awesome week!
I adore this arrangement. Your use of vintage finds and flowering plants is perfect for Mother’s Day. Mom’s placement makes it super special:)
Thank you, Kippi! I love making dough bowl arrangements! Thanks for stopping by!
I love that book Kim! Your dough bowl display looks wonderful. I have never been to Round Top, but maybe one day… it has been on my list of things I would love to do someday. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Cara! Round Top is a wonderful experience! I hope I can go back one day!