Adirondack Basket Floral Arrangement Tutorial

Earlier in the week I shared my outdoor fall decor with you in this post. I used Adirondack baskets filled with floral arrangements as my front door decor. As noted, these shouldering baskets were originally created by Native Americans, intended for carrying gear and harvested foods. Though my baskets are newer, vintage Adirondack styles can be found online in various shopping venues or, alternatively you could choose a different style basket altogether. In today's post I'm illustrating how easy it was to create these arrangements, with inexpensive florals.

There are no affiliate links to my post (mine is an ad-free blog). I'm just sharing information of my own style and sources. The source list pertains to making one basket, and I simply doubled the materials to make two.

Supplies for Each Arrangement:

• 1 Large Basket (mine are Ballard Designs Adirondack, purchased on sale with free shipping)
• Plastic Bubble Wrap as bottom filler (mine came from package shipments received)
• 3 Dry Floral Foam (singles available at Dollar Tree, 3-pack available at WalMart)
• 10 -11 choice florals (4 or 5 like pairs) from Dollar Tree, each pair 12-15" (mine are 4 like pairs (8), plus 3 unique stems, for a total of 11 stems)
• 3 longer floral stems, 21" or so (mine are 1 like pair, 1 unique, purchased at local drug store for $3 each)

Lay all your florals out in like pairs, along with all other supplies, on a working surface.

Keep the taller stems separate from the others.

Roll the bubble wrap as pictured.

Place in base of basket until at least half full, adjusting amount of bubble wrap if necessary.

Place three foam blocks side by side, in basket, on top of bubble wrap. It should be a tight fit so as not to have floral movement once you begin arranging.

Once satisfied with the positioning of the bubble wrap and foam, a quick cleanup with the vacuum keeps the mess to a minimum for OCD people like me.

Starting with what I'll call Layer 1, using the tall pair of like florals as the center point, arrange your choice of two pairs of the shorter stems symmetrically on either side (see picture below). This will eventually be inserted into the piece of foam at the back of the inside your basket (Foam block 1). But don't start inserting yet! Keep going with your arrangement on your working surface. This allows you to visualize the entire bouquet and make changes before inserting into the basket.

On top of Layer 1, start Layer 2 by arranging the remaining one pair of shorter stems and, in my case, three additional unique stems (from the supplies) until the look appeals to you. My centermost florals are the three unique stems -  a white mum, tan hydrangea, and the stem of round seed pods (brown). I arranged them centrally, with the like pair just below, on either side (see photo below).

For the last and final layer (Layer 3, as shown below), place the single, taller (21" in my case) floral stem in the center, and the final pair of shorter stems flanking it, one on each side. Rearrange anything at this point before starting to insert the layers into the foam.

Keeping with how you layered the florals - 1, 2, and 3 - insert those stems in each respective block of foam, 1 being the back piece in the basket, 2 being the middle piece, and 3 being the front piece.

Pictured below is the first layer of florals arranged in the foam inside the basket. At this point, I could see the one, smaller purple flora on the left needed to be situated a little farther left in my arrangement, so I adjusted it. Do this for anything that looks "off".

After working with each layer in similar fashion, you should have a full basket. What I did next was take that final, third layer of floral stems and started bending them forward, as if they were spilling from the basket. You can adjust any of the stems similarly. If it becomes unwieldy in handling, don't worry. You can always just pull the stem out and stick it back in. It's just a little easier to arrange the florals from back to front, in order. My total amount spent for supplies for each arrangement (excluding basket) was $23. If you already have faux florals on hand, your cost could be even less.

As mentioned, since mine are double front entry doors, I created two of these Adirondack basket arrangements.

This is but one season of a suggested floral arrangement for an Adirondack basket, and but one use for the basket itself. You could place this on an outside door as I have, an inside door, shelf, or even on the floor inside an entry or by a fireplace. I have ideas of arranging my fallen birch logs in one for a winter arrangement, or maybe using the basket to store throws in. How else would you suggest using them?

Thanks for your visit today. Feel free to leave your comments.

(A special thank you to Cindy from Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home Amaze Me Monday #286 for featuring this post!)

Rita C. at Panoply

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