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Breathtaking in their exotic colors, or pristine white, an orchid arrangement brings beautiful style to any room in your home.
Especially in summer, I love to have orchids on display here at our FrenchGardenHouse. Orchid arrangements can be quite costly when you buy them, but they are so easy to make yourself with store bought orchid plants, and your favorite container.
I use one of our antique French pots or jardinieres for them, it just brings another layer of luxe to the arrangement.
Ready to try your hand on creating a designer quality arrangement in one of your French antique containers? It’s so easy, you will master this in no time! {I usually do this on our back patio, since the moss can make quite a mess.}
HERE IS HOW TO CREATE A STUNNING ORCHID ARRANGEMENT FOR YOUR HOME:
1.GATHER YOUR MATERIALS.
- Your favorite French antique container, a jardiniere, bowl, or ironstone tureen works well.
- 2-3 orchids, depending on the size of your container. All one color looks best, select plants with buds that have not bloomed, ensuring a few months worth of enjoyment. I usually mix in a few green plants for a designer look…maidenhair ferns, or ivy look stunning.
- 1-2 bags of decorative moss, either natural moss or reindeer moss. {you can purchase either/or at craft stores or plant centers.}
- 1 plastic bag that you will use as a liner for your arrangement.
- Some gravel, or more plastic bags to use to anchor the plants.
2. LINE YOUR CONTAINER.
Place a plastic liner in the bottom of your container. I usually end up using a plastic bag, for simplicity. I just check to make sure there are no holes in the bottom of the bag, and scrunch it down into the container. If you have gravel, place a layer of it directly on the bottom, inside the plastic bag.
Because my containers are usually already quite heavy, I started using scrunched up plastic grocery store bags instead, but gravel works wonderfully well!
3. PLACE THE PLANTS INSIDE.
Nestle your orchids on top of the layer of gravel, until they stand upright. If needed, add more gravel, or plastic bags squished into a ball until your plants are where you want them, fill the spaces on all sides with either gravel or the plastic bags to keep the plants standing straight.
4.COVER UP WITH MOSS.
Add the moss, pack it around plants to really stabilize them, and then cover the top completely. You want the moss to be the only thing you see on the top of the pot. Not only does this keep the plants moister, it conceals the pots and plastic bag.
5. PLACE & ENJOY.
Move your arrangement to a light filled place {but out of direct sun} and enjoy the beauty.
Okay..NO! After I made this arrangement, I realized that the shape of the container was ALL. WRONG. for this spot.
This really should be tip # 6…if it doesn’t look as good like you thought it would, either move your arrangement to a better location, or swap out the container.
That is what I decided to do, since I really wanted an arrangement next to our favorite antique angel. {if at first you don’t succeed….you know the rest!}
In no time I made an arrangement in one of our French antique tureens using all the same plants, and this time, it was a perfect fit for the place I had in mind.
I water my orchids once a week, either by removing them out of the container and doing it in the sink, letting the plant drip dry before replacing in the tureen, or….and this works like a charm….by placing 2-3 ice cubes on the top of each plant. This allows the water to gently permeate the roots as the ice melts.
Here are some perfect antique containers to use for luxurious orchid displays:
ANTIQUE FRENCH URN | IRONSTONE TUREEN | FRENCH JARDINIERE | ANTIQUE BELGIAN BOWL
For more about orchid care you can visit the American Orchid Society.
Don’t forget to leave a comment below {and visit Bakefromscratch.com, too!} to enter the give-away for this special issue of BAKE magazine…it’s destined to become one of those you refer to for years to come!
Let me know if you make an orchid arrangement at home! I love hearing about how you create beauty at home…
I recently received a large, three orchids, arrangement in a low modern container. I loved the orchids but EVERYTIME I looked at it my eye was offended due to the modern (ugly) container. So I carried the LARGE arranments back to the florist that delivered it and they repotted it in a more suitable french container?. The container has “Queen Bee” on the front. Now the white orchids and white french container is very pleasing to my eye.
I so love orchids and love to bring them home and place them in another container. I just usually add sheet moss or spanish moss and i so love the way you added the fern to the container for that most layered, gorgeous look! You have the most exquisite containers to choose from!! Have a great day Lidy!
Shirley, orchids are such a great addition to any home, aren’t they?
Orchids are my favorite and these pink ones are beautiful. I love how you have displayed this one. It is just beautiful! You have given me a new idea for what to do with them.
Your arrangement is beautiful. Oh, how I wish I had a picture of one I did years ago. Boxwoods in Atlanta does gorgeous orchid arrangements for their customers in their personal antique containers just like you.
Lidy, I enjoy your blog so much.
Thank you so much, Bonnie. Orchids are such a great plant to have, because not only do they look exotic and stunning, they last so long.
I love bringing in the orchids when they are in bloom. Your arrangements are so gorgeous and I will refer back to this post as soon as one of the orchids is blooming.
You are so lucky to have orchids that repeat bloom! We also have some, but they are huge by now…so they stay in a shaded spot on our patio.
Hi Lidy, I loved this post. I never have had good success with repotting orchids so I have gone to silk orchids. lol Using different pots really makes or breaks the vignette. The picture with the angel statue is so incredibly beautiful! I can’t imagine the joy you feel when you come upon an amazing new find. I just want to thank you for all of your wonderful articles in the magazines. I read everyone and have learned so much from them. Thank you Lidy for being such a great teacher!
xoxo Jo
Lovely ideas for growing and displaying orchids! I’ve never owned an orchid, but I do love to bake. The book looks fabulous, too!
What a delightful way to display orchids!And the instructions so easy to follow!!Thank you Lidy, you’re fabulous!
Hi Lidy, I adore both of your orchid arrangements, but I agree the arrangement in the antique tureen is best near the angel and teacups. The maidenhair fern is perfect at the base with the soft moss. Lovely.
My friend has an orchid that she has kept blooming every year for twenty years. It blooms for months at a time. She has the perfect lighting. Orchids are just so beautiful!
I look forward to reading your posts to see what wonderful things you will be featuring next. Thanks for all the beauty you spread.:)
Stunningly beautiful! Love it! Anxious to give an orchid arrangement a try. What is the broad leaf plant? Perhaps I missed that. Such fun to see your ideas.
Nancy, I think you are referring to the leaf that is part of the orchid plant, it’s broad, it’s difficult to figure out where that is coming from in my photos, sorry. That is one of the reasons I choose either a delicate fern or small leafed ivy to compliment the orchid plants.
I have orchids in my kitchen. they are out of direct sunlight. One I have had for years. They don’t take as much time and care as many of my other plants. The trick is finding the right place. I have mine in favorite pots but what a great idea to use the tureen. Still another great idea from Lidy.
I had a large container that looks like aged concrete, but is actually a resin type product that is light weight. Following your instructions I placed two lovely white orchids that I purchased at my local Publix grocery store, inside the container and covered it with Spanish moss. I also wrapped a bit of the moss around the little stick that holds the orchid stems, just where they are connected. It is beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration.
Just beautiful! I love orchids, for years they intimidated me. They seemed so fragile. But I finally game them a try and was so happy I did. Your containers are so pretty. Love how you worked the fern in along with the orchid. Many thanks for the ideas.
Sandra, it’s so nice to hear from you! I know, orchids seem fragile, but they really aren’t. And they are instant beautifiers, aren’t they?
Lidy,
every winter my mom and dad go south and I inherit her house plants and she is a avid orchid grower, last winter I had 3 different style of orchids blooming in the family room. So beautiful -I too know the ice cube watering trick, works great. Please enter me into the drawing.
Thanks,
Denise
My daughter was given a lovely orchid and we’ve kept it on my potting bench on the back deck where it seems to be loving our very humid summer air and indirect sunlight. We’ve heard conflicting things about whether orchids are dangerous to cats, and I’m not really sure what we’ll do when it gets too cold for the orchid to be outside.
Thank you so much for your visit, Anne. I hadn’t heard that orchids are toxic, so I did look it up on google (as I’m sure you have)
and found this:
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has placed Dendrobiums on a list of plants that are nontoxic to cats. However, the organization’s advice to those worried about their cat’s safety around the plant is that, while no evidence exists that a Dendrobium orchid is toxic, cat owners should still keep the plant out of reach because it is conceivable that the plant could cause discomfort if eaten by the cat.
Hope you enjoy your orchids, they are such gorgeous plants, aren’t they?
Your instructions are so perfect and easy to follow. Thanks so much an 11+
I hope you are able to create a beautiful orchid display at home Edna!