Blooming Pumpkin ~ chicken friendly floral arrangment

Now that we've passed the Autumn Equinox the girls and I are ready to begin our fall decorating! I love having fresh flowers in the house straight from the garden! The change of the seasons is a wonderful time to go out into your yard and gather up some of your late summer bloomers, berries, seed pods and create a fresh, festive and sustainable fall floral arrangement for your dining room table, kitchen island or a friend to celebrate!
 My blooming pumpkin does just that and it's chicken friendly too!
Here's how I put mine together:

Pick or purchase a pumpkin to your liking. I chose a medium sized pumpkin and cleaned it out  setting aside the pumpkin seeds and the lid for the Cottage Hens.

 Make your opening large enough that a quart mason jar ( or similar sized vase ) will fit inside easily without the top showing after it's filled.
* If you use a smaller pumpkin try the 16 oz mason jars for a vase.

This view shows dahlia, hydrangea, butterfly bush, autumn joy, pumpkin on a stick, a sprig of grass and some wild sunflowers. 

This is the other side of the arrangement. If your pumpkin is going to be placed where it will be visible from all angles be sure to make it pretty from all sides.  Because the dahlia and the hydrangea blossoms are so large and I wanted to hide the opening of the top of the pumpkin I cut them shorter and placed them near the bottom.. Taller flowers like the sunflower, grass plumes, zinnia Mexican sun flower and pumpkin  on a stick were cut longer at varying lengths for height and fullness.

 I've placed ours on the kitchen island where we can all enjoy it. It's the first thing we see when we come in the door!

Remember, fresh, local blooms aren't fussy about where you put them. Just relax and have fun with the process of flower arranging. When it looks pleasing to you, you're done!

 Yard flowers look naturally beautiful together in the garden and they'll be just as delightful in your favorite vase or a bloomin' pumpkin!

I'm sharing this post with the Homestead Revival Barn Hop and Heidi's Simple Country Living Garden  and Tilly's Nest Down Home Blog Hop!

* when your flowers fade, don't forget to toss that pumpkin into your chicken run!