Holiday Centerpieces-Chimney Centerpiece

Suzanne Taylor: My name is Suzanne Taylor of Artistic Gardens, Flower Shop and Greenhouse of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and I am a professional florist, and I am going to show you how to make a floral centerpiece for Christmas with a glass hurricane and a candle, and it will be an oval formal arrangement.

The items you need for this centerpiece will be a container, a block of floral foam, a candle, the glass chimney, and the holder for the chimney and the candle. First, we take a sharp knife, and we are going to cut this foam to fit that container. So it's very easy to slice the wet foam, you just run the knife through it, and then you put it whole side down into your bucket of water.

Then, we will take the floral foam, and we can just press it right down in the container, and then with our oasis tape, and this works under wet conditions and dry. We are just going to tape it to the container, so it can't come out, and I will take my knife and cut it off.

Now, this is very handy. It holds the chimney and the candle. You just take it, put it in the center, and push it firmly down till it rests on the oasis. Now, the candle, we will have to get it unwrapped. I have already cut this one shorter because this is a little tall. Unwrap it, put it right down in there, and then, the glass chimney goes on top.

The greenery that we are going to use will be balsam, holly, incense cedar, and white pine. So we have an assortment of greens. You will take your snips to cut up the blossom. This will be the primary greenery that we use in the arrangement. You snip it off short, and then you take your knife, so it doesn't fall back out and you strip the stems, just kind of take those extra needles off, so that when it goes in there, it doesn't poke out again because it can push itself out. So we'll see it's starting to take shape. I will get the backside done here.

Now, the white pine is the next green that I am going to use. This adds a lovely line. It's very easy to just snip it right off with a knife, and use your knife to cut these little bare spots, so that it fits in there nicely. This you don't have to strip. Incense cedar, this is very nice. It does have a tendency to give off pollen though. So you may find a yellow dust on your tablecloth. Cleans up very easily. This is from Oregon, and it's a really nice greenery, adds a nice texture, and a little cone, the incense cones really give it a nice look, and holly is another one. This is very prickly. This is also from Oregon. Just stick that in like so, here and there, just to add a touch of color, there, and then we have got some holly in it.

Now, your centerpiece is taking form. Now, you can start putting in some flowers. We will start with the large carnations first. You take a knife, and you just give it a nice sharp little edge. It's got a nice little slanted cut there, and you just insert it in the foam and the water will help it last. Just in an assorted pattern, you don't want it to look too geometric. The last thing you want to do is put it exactly half and around, you just want to kind of randomly stick them in there, and one more.

I will put this one down this way, and then the miniature carnations. They add another element of texture. They are smaller, but they are red. Nice thing about carnations, they last a long, long time, and they give a great pop of color. This is also very good for a coffee table. You can use it on a mantle, you can finish it off with some glass bowls or cones. The next arrangement we are going to make will be a candy cane arrangement in a basket.