Floral Arrangements Made With Grapes

Grape and Flower Wreath

• Wreaths are versatile floral designs because you can place them on windows, doors and walls, either singly or in groups. You can create wreaths with grapes, baby's breath, roses, mums and ivy or any other floral combination that fits your decor. Use grapevine, straw or dry-foam-wreath bases for artificial materials, and wet foam for fresh items. Cover your wreath base with moss, then place large roses and grape clusters evenly around the wreath base. Choose white or red grapes to complement your decor and the other material in the wreath. Grape clusters with a linear or triangular shape work well for wreaths because you can wrap the bunch from the outside of the wreath, across the front of the base to the inside. Use glue or wire to secure the roses and grape clusters to the wreath base. Add small mums, baby's breath and ivy leaves to fill in open spaces. Place the flowers and greenery at different angles around the grape clusters to add visual interest and appeal from all angles.

Cornucopia Basket

• Fall-harvest cornucopias are classic arrangements that include grapes. This design features a mix of autumn leaves, such as oak and maple, flowers such as roses, hydrangeas and heather -- and fruit including red, purple or white grapes, pumpkins and pomegranates. Use floral foam in the horn of the cornucopia basket to secure the clusters of fruit and flowers. Place a layer the longest leaves on the bottom of the arrangement so that they extend away from the basket to a distance that is approximately equal to the depth of the cornucopia. Add bunches of long grape clusters and flowers on top of the leaves so that they lay over the first layer, but the ends of the leaves are still visible. As you add the grapes and flowers, choose opposite colors for visual interest. For example, place white grapes against red roses and red grapes with white hydrangeas. Continue to layer clusters of grapes with flowers, creating a stair-step appearance. As you situate grape clusters higher in the design, allow some of the grapes to dangle over the edges. You can add small pumpkins or pomegranates near the top to complement the grapes, if desired. The basket should appear that the grapes, flowers and leaves are spilling out of the basket.

Kitchen Swag

• Swags are fun floral designs that add fresh punches of color to any kitchen. You can hang a finished swag from a cabinet on a wall or lay it across a dining table. Start with a thick braid of straw or a wired bunch of honeysuckle branches or grapevine. Choose medium-sized bunches of red grapes for the design. Create bundles of flowers by wiring together stems of small flowers and greenery such as phlox, delphinium, helenium and herbs. The floral bundles should be slightly smaller than the grape clusters. Attach the grape clusters to the swag base with glue or wire, beginning at the bottom, working your way upward in a zigzag pattern, leaving space between the clusters. Place the floral bundles among the grape clusters to fill the open areas.

Grape and Daisy Table Urn

• A tall urn filled with grapes, daisies and bay leaves makes a striking arrangement on a holiday buffet table. Place a cone-shaped foam piece in a tall floral urn. Start at the bottom of the cone and place a row of red-globe grape clusters around the foam. Use your largest grape clusters for this first row because it serves as the base for the rest of the design. Allow some of the grapes to hang over the edges of the urn, if desired. Secure the grape clusters to the cone with wire or glue. Add a row of bay leaves above the grapes, and then a row of daisies and a second row of bay leaves. Repeat the rows -- beginning with grapes -- until you fill the entire cone. As the design ascends the cone, the grapes and flowers should become smaller so that the design does not appear top heavy. You can also alternate green, purple and red grapes for visual interest.