Potted Flowers for Centerpieces

Spring

• Say hello to spring with a cheerful basket of 4-inch potted flowers, including pansies, stock, violets and, of course, daffodils. Leave the flowers in their pots and arrange the pots in the basket so the taller flowers, such as stock and the daffodils, are in the center surrounded by smaller flowers draping over the sides, such as pansies and violets.

  Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a planter of green flowers. Center a green cymbidium orchid in the center. Surround it with lime-green miniature roses and a ruffle of shamrocks.

Summer

• Cool down the summer's heat at a patio party with a blue and white arrangement of Shasta daisies in white pots placed down the center of the table. Add smaller pots of bright blue lobelia and trailing bacopa. Pop in red geraniums in red pots to celebrate Flag Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. If you don't want to spray the pots white or red, use floral pot covers made of foil and cellophane.

Fall

• Fall is harvest time. Reflect that bounty in your centerpiece. Combine fall fruits, such as apples and pears, with fall flowers, such as mums and asters. Hollow out a pumpkin to use as the container. The pumpkin should be big enough to hold three 4-inch pots of mums in burgundy, gold and rust. Poke a wooden skewer in the bottom of each apple and pear and arrange in the mums by poking the other end of the skewer in the soil of the pots. Cover the soil and any gaps between the pots and the edge of the pumpkin by tucking in fall leaves.

Winter

• There may not be snow outside but with the right flowers, it takes no time at all to create a winter wonderland centerpiece with potted white flowers. Wrap the pots of white miniature roses, chrysanthemums, gardenias and narcissus with aluminum foil to keep the moisture in the soil from leaking. Add a ruffle of white tissue paper to cover the foil. Lay the square of tissue paper on a flat surface. Put the pot in the middle. Bring up the ends of the tissue paper up around the pot and secure with a ribbon. Dust the flowers with artificial snow at party time.