Michele Seger creates beautiful and inexpensive centerpieces for outdoor dining using herbs and wildflowers from her own garden. For the centerpiece she demonstrates here, Michele purchased a block of floral foam, floral sticks, quince (figure A), cherry peppers, avocados and ting-ting. The herbs Michele harvested from her garden included rosemary, Italian flat-leaf parsley, thyme, arugula and sage. If your garden is not as abundant as Michele's, you can purchase herbs from a grocer. - To create a centerpiece like Michele's, begin with a block of floral foam (figure B) saturated with water to keep the herbs fresh. If you wish to make the display well in advance of the party, you can refrigerate the centerpiece.
- Tie groups of herbs to floral sticks and place them in the centerpiece making sure that the stems are well imbedded into the foam. Once you have covered the floral foam with herbs, tie groups of cherry peppers to floral sticks and place them randomly about the centerpiece.
- Inspect the centerpiece to assure that the herbs and cherry peppers are evenly distributed, and trim herbs if necessary. Place groupings of wildflowers throughout the display, and add ting-ting.
- Now, use floral sticks to anchor the quince. Finally, place avocados at the base of the floral foam, and your centerpiece is complete.
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