Free, easy, spectacular centerpieces

During one of the busiest weeks of my year, I volunteered to host a dinner party.  I may be crazy, but not completely--right now is peak hydrangea season in the South, so flowers for the party were a simple matter.

It couldn't be easier to create a beautiful arrangement of hydrangeas.  Cut your flowers in the morning before the sun gets too hot.  Then just cut the stems to fit into whatever vessel you choose, strip off most of the lower foliage, add a few drops of Clorox bleach to your water, and poke flowers into the water until you like the look.  You may choose to leave them rather loose and droopy, or do as I've done here and mass the flowers.  You can't go wrong!

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f you're unsure about what kind of vessel to arrange your hydrangeas in, use your imagination.  I've put them in pitchers, bowls, mason jars, milk bottles, water bottles, empty sauce jars wrapped with burlap--if it'll hold water, it'll hold hydrangeas.  And if it won't hold water (like my porcelain footbath above), simply place a plastic cup or cups inside it.  Let the plastic cup hold the water and the pretty vessel just look nice. 

And just look at this variety of color!  I'm more partial to the blue flowers that result from a more acidic soil, but it surely is fun to have lots of different blooms.

Beautiful, free centerpieces that take only minutes to create.  That's my kind of decorating!

 Do you grow hydrangeas?  Or is there another flower you use to create centerpieces?  Please share!