Learn how to create stunning forage basket arrangements using fall elements. Enhance your home with beautiful native bouquets.
How do I choose the best foraging bag or basket?
The best forage baskets start with your personal preference. I chose this basket today because it’s large, lightweight, and can hold many foraged elements. The basket’s handle also makes it easy to carry and set down for hands-free access.
I also like using canvas shoulder bags when gathering smaller foraged elements like acorns, chestnuts, mushrooms, etc. You may even choose foraging bags that attach to your belt buckle.
This post may contain affiliate links, which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
I prefer using this foraging basket for today because I can easily visualize all the different colors for the arrangements I want to design when I return home.
I collected red, orange, green, and yellow leaf branches in my foraging basket. I added a few evergreens and finished my collection off with several cut pink limelight hydrangeas from our backyard foliage. I love the pink hues mixed in with all the other fall colors.
And don’t skimp on those evergreen branches! Evergreens add winter texture and pair beautifully with the fall-colored leaves and pink hydrangeas.
Forage with me at Stratton Mountain, Vermont:
I’m always amazed how a little elevation change can shift the outdoor elements. When I arrived at Stratton Mountain, just a short 10-minute drive away, the wind was howling, the fall foliage was much further along, almost stick-season-like, and a storm was rolling in over the mountain. It certainly felt like winter was upon us.
What is stick season?
Stick season is the time of year when the leaves have fallen, and the tree’s bare branches are now stick-like without their lush foliage.
6 Forage Basket Arrangements
Now that we have our forage basket filled with autumn colors let’s create a few arrangements to display throughout the home.
My first forage basket arrangement will be for the guest bedroom I’m currently designing into a country-inn style, which I’ll share more on the blog next week! You may enjoy the 3 Wallpaper Bedroom Designs Emblematic of a Cozy Vermont Inn post in the meantime.
I’ll use this chippy-wired basket that I found out “Thrifting with the Gals” a couple of years ago. You may see more in the post, Vintage Style Flower Centerpiece.
And I was absolutely thrilled when “Country Sampler Magazine” featured it in their “Romantic Fall Florals” article.
You may also enjoy the On November Or In November Either Way, It’s Stick Season post.
1. Wired Pink Forage Basket Arrangement
Today, I’ll combine the pink limelight hydrangeas with the foraged evergreens and colorful leaves in this thrifted wire basket.
I will not be adding any watered vases to this foraging basket arrangement.
Unlike the fall centerpiece above, I want everything to dry out and fade naturally.
The evergreens created a nice solid bedding that was needed for the hydrangeas and leaf branches to rest upon since this wired foraging basket is loosely open.
This foraging basket arrangement beautifully matches the colors of the fallen leaves outside the bedroom’s two windows and accents the embroidered picture I picked up while out “Thrifting with the Gals” last week. See more in the Best Barn Finds in a Big Red Barn on a Sunday Foliage Drive post.
You may also enjoy the Flower Press: Vintage Meets Academia post.
You may also enjoy the Firelight, Evergreens, and Snow: The Christmas Bottle Project of Swedish Homes post.
2. Vintage Tin Hydrangeas Arrangement
I used this vintage tin for my second foraging arrangement, which I found at Vintage Market Days Vermont this past spring. It’s one of my favorite tins for decorating flowers. See this old tin with tulips displayed in last spring’s Best Breakfast Nook Ideas for Morning Brunch post.
This forage basket arrangement, filled with fall’s faded pink hydrangeas, matches the blues and pinks this room accentuates. Again, there is no water in this arrangement either, as I will let the hydrangeas dry in place.
My girlfriend gave me the drawing of the two red and white coffee mugs, which I added to a vintage frame with a velvet bow. I love the cozy vibe it gives to this little bedroom space.
You may also enjoy the Summer into Fall: Limelight Hydrangeas, An Old Crate & Fresh Blooms, and Fall Hydrangeas in an Old Crate posts.
3. Thrifted and Forage Basket Arrangement
Last weekend, I found this gorgeous round basket and bouquets of soft pink hydrangeas at this big old antique barn. See more in the Best Barn Finds in a Big Red Barn on a Sunday Foliage Drive post. And honestly, I can’t stop admiring it, now on our dining room table…
It first started out on our breakfast nook table…
Then, this foraging basket quickly switched to our dining room table on one cozy rainy day.
4. Women’s Boot Foraging Arrangement
This fall, at Vintage Market Days Vermont, I found this vintage McCoy boot vase.
And here I filled it up with a sampling of the colored foliage pieces I recently foraged—pink hydrangeas, colored leaves on branches, and a couple of pussywillow branches, too.
5. Two Blue Foliage Bottles
The remaining foraged leaves made their way into two large blue bottles on our breakfast nook mantel.
You may see more of this blue and white platter wall in the Blue and White Asymmetrical Vintage Platter Wall | Design Yours Today post.
6. Pink Hydrangeas Bundles
The pink hydrangeas make such beautiful foraging basket bouquets that I wrapped a few stems in tissue paper to share at my vintage booth. You may see and learn more about having a vintage booth in the posts:
- Vintage Booth: Tips & Tricks For Success
- Vintage Booth Winter Window Display
- Let’s Make a Homespun Vintage Booth Wall Display
In full disclosure, I lost much of my mojo after the tragedy that unfolded in Lewiston, Maine, when creating this blog post for you today. All of our thoughts and prayers are with our Maine communities right now💔
Join me here to see more of our Vermont Fall Foliage Home Tour.
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“This post may contain affiliate links, which won’t change your price but will share some commission.“
I so enjoy your blog! Thank you for another inspiring offering and what beauty can be made from nature. I’ve never seen such beautiful pink lime lights! Blessings to you and your fellow Maine neighbors.
Thank you so much Sandi, you made me very happy and so thankful you are here. Happy Thanksgiving to you! We are enjoying it in Maine!
This so inspired me Ann and I couldn’t wait to share it today in my weekly wrap up post because it will inspire my followers too!
Thanks so much Kristin!
Such natural beauty available in your region. I can’t decide which is my favorite. They all make me feel like I’m wrapped in a cozy quilt reading a good book even though we’re still in 80 degrees down here. Have exciting to have the arrangement featured on County Sampler.
Hi Pamela, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m envious of your warm weather right now! Best to you and thanks for your sweet note.
Love these arrangements, Ann! Particularly the one in the boot vase. So fun! I have felt the same way this week. It has been a tough one.
Thanks Molly, yes a tough one indeed!
Thank you for these beautiful arrangements and the containers were as pretty as the arrangements. My prayers are with those people.
Thank you so much Marlene, that means so much to me!