These Spring Centerpiece Ideas Bring Natural Beauty to Your Table

Living Vase

Cover a small galvanized bucket with a fresh-cut French pussy willow arrangement of branches for a lovely "living" vase.

1. Wrap two rubber bands around the outside of the pot, approximately one-third from the top and bottom rims.
2. Cut enough pussy willow stalks to embellish the container's exterior.
3. Mix the lengths so some willows are the same height as the container and others are 1–3 inches taller.
4. Attach in a vertical arrangement, keeping the branches very close together by slipping them behind the rubber bands.
5. When most of the container is covered, add short branches behind only the lower rubber band, hiding any gaps.
6. Use a glue gun to add individual catkins or wrap decorative twine to hide the rubber bands.
7. Fill your container with cheerful spring flowers, such as a mix of dark and light pink tulips.

Eggs and Carnations

Turn a handful of dyed eggs and a bouquet of carnations into a playful spring centerpiece.

1. Fill a medium-size footed bowl with a few inches of water.
2. Nestle dyed eggs in a smaller bowl (prop bowl on a dish if necessary).
3. Cut carnation stems about 2 or 3 inches long and pack the blooms around the bowl of eggs.

Easter Egg Vase

1. Start with a large-mouth clear cookie jar or canister and place a clear drinking glass in the center.
2. Gently stack dyed, hard-cooked eggs between the glass and jar, alternating egg colors.
3. Fill the glass with water.
4. Cut the stems of your favorite flowers (we used roses, gerbera daisies, tulips, hyacinth, and bells of Ireland) to the desired length, and arrange them in the glass.

Cool Hues

A tin bowl and saucer display welcome spring's arrival with an an assortment of purple hyacinth, blue grape hyacinth, plum-hue tulips, grape fritillaria, and ruffled columbine foliage accented with a black pussy willow arrangement added to the flowers. Begin by crisscrossing the willow branches to form a "nest" through which all the other stems can be inserted, weaving each flower just where you want it in the design. Notice how the dark centers of the tulips echo the black catkins.

Accentuate Classic Daffodils

Gathered from the garden, an alluring clutch of golden, cream, and apricot-hued daffodils play nicely with twigs of yellowish heritage pussy willow. The flowers and branches, arranged in a vintage metal container, evoke a blooming woodland meadow. Select several daffodil varieties for more interest. Keep the pussy willow branches long so they emerge playfully above the mound of flowers.

Centerpiece Tip: Cut the daffodils before their buds have opened for a long-lasting bouquet. You'll enjoy watching their forms change, and the pussy willows will last just as long.

Repurposed Birdbath

A shallow concrete birdbath can hold just enough soil to make a pretty display of moss, spring-flowering bulbs, and pussy willow branches. It's the perfect miniature garden to enjoy indoors before your outdoor landscape blooms.

1. Purchase pots of favorite spring primroses, pansies, alyssum, grape hyacinth, or tête-à-tête daffodils.
2. Place a grouping of these plants in the saucer or dish. You might need to remove excess soil and roots from the annuals or separate individual bulbs from their clump.
3. Fill the container with potting soil, mounding it in the center.
4. Cover the top of the soil with sheet moss.
5. Add a pussy willow arrangement, grouped informally as in nature.
6. Keep the plantings fresh by lightly watering the moss surface. Do not overwater if the container lacks a drainage hole.

Pussy Willow Arrangement

The common pussy willow is instantly recognizable, but there are so many other unique varieties for the landscape and the vase. Mixing several cultivars in one large arrangement makes a dramatic impact -- and showcases Mother Nature's botanical diversity. Here, the large galvanized jug holds four different types of the branches, while heritage pussy willow stems fill a small accent vase.

Daffodils, Dried Grass and a Lantern

Place a 4-inch pot of daffodils in the candleholder. Spin dried grass to form a nest to conceal the pot.

Easter Bonnet

Improvise a pretty Easter basket using a sweet straw hat. Fill it with softly colored eggs, either real or artificial. Hollowed eggs like ours can also be stuffed with paper ribbons that include spring wishes, egg hunting clues, or even names for place cards.

Dwarf Iris, Spikemoss, and a Flea Market Find

Treasures of another kind fill this cedar chest. Line the box with plastic wrap, then drop in 4-inch pots of budded irises and mosses. Use fillers like spikemoss as the supporting cast for seasonal flowers. Then, after blooms fade, foliage carries on this trunk

Floral Nests

Turn an open round flower into a decorative nest. We've used peonies, but open roses would also be lovely. Cut the stems short and float on water in a footed dish or glass. Tuck a few little eggs in the middle and display as a centerpiece.

Tea Time

Vintage teacups make pretty containers for tiny flower arrangements. Fill the cups with well-soaked floral foam or use a small metal florist's frog, if necessary, to hold the flowers in place. Look in your yard or flower shop for small blooms, such as grape hyacinth or lily-of-the-valley that match the scale of the cups.

Hyacinths, Sheet Moss, and a Metal Trough

Half-round galvanized gutters inspire trough planters like this. Fill with soil and budded bulbs. Top with moss. Tuck in earthy knickknacks, like these ceramic faux fungi, for a woodsy look.

Tulips and Sheet Moss in a Cylinder

Remove tulips from the pot and wrap bulbs with sheet moss, forming a kokedama (Japanese moss ball). Preserve the shape with fishing line.

Sprout fresh wheatgrass in a decked-out glass beaker.

Egg Dish

Mound hollowed out, painted or dyed eggs in a clear compote and add a little water. Then stick stems of delphinium and pom-pom mums in the crevices between the eggs. Simply beautiful.

Blossoming Tabletop

Arrange this fun and flowery Easter centerpiece by coupling a faux rabbit with an oversized egg. Then surround the pair with your favorite springtime blossoms, such as the crocuses and various primroses shown here.

Bunny Floral Arrangement #1

Uniquely shaped containers add interest and drama to the simplest arrangement. This Easter bunny vase holds pretty spring flowers. The next two slides show you how to make this Easter arrangement.

Bunny Floral Arrangement #2

1. Fill the container opening with dry florist's foam.
2. Cover the foam with Spanish moss and secure with greening pins.
3. Allow some of the Spanish moss to spill over the side of the opening.
4. Clip the stems of the dominant flowers to the desired length and insert in the dry foam. The length of the stems should be in proportion to the size of your container.

Bunny Floral Arrangement #3

1. Cut the stems of the secondary flowers, and tuck in between the dominant flowers. Let some flowers spill over the sides.
2. Cluster and wire green leaves. Add them to the arrangement.
3. Clip grape clusters from a stem of grapes, and using a 3-inch wooden wired pick, add them to the container, allowing the grapes to spill over the side. Fill in with green leaves as desired.
4. Make a loop bow with two different colors of 1/4-inch velvet ribbon. Secure with 22-gauge wire and push it into the arrangement where desired.

Welcome Spring

We made these affordable table linens using yellow gingham fabric. For the centerpiece, a white planter is tied with gingham and grosgrain ribbons around the top (use hot glue to secure if needed). Fill the planter with wheatgrass from a pet store and poke white silk daisies into the grass. A wooden egg painted pink and lettered with a paint pin nestles in a ribbon-wrapped ramekin full of wheatgrass to make a unique place card.

Hoppy Table Settings

Large chocolate bunnies bring out the kid in everyone. Set each place at your Easter table with a sweet like this and a place card dressed up with delicate floral stickers.

Flight of Fancy

Glittering paper butterflies add a magical touch to an Easter basket.

1. Color-copy or print butterfly images from copyright-free books or websites.
2. Print two copies of each design and glue them back-to-back so they're two-sided.
3. Gently bend up the butterfly wings, lightly spray with adhesive, and sprinkle with glitter.
4. Let dry and glue several to an Easter basket.

Breakfast Centerpiece

Displayed on a bed of garden lettuce in a footed china compote, hard-cooked brown and white eggs grace a spring table. Vary the look by using colored eggs on top of a bed of ferns or hosta leaves. Or use a nest of wood shred and top with a pile of foil-covered chocolate eggs.

Rabbits and Flowers

This table is covered with frolicking porcelain rabbits and fresh flowers to welcome family and guests with the colors and icons of spring. Use fresh flowers or, for an easier centerpiece, go with potted flowering plants.

Flower Tips

Though the flowers in this stunning centerpiece, including hydrangea, larkspur, roses, and sword ferns, come from a florist, you could substitute garden flowers or blossoms from flowering shrubs. For maximum impact and the most natural look, gather the blooms into clusters of like flowers, rather than placing them individually into a more carefully arranged bouquet.

Candle Holder Egg Tree

Most any type of candleholder can be transformed by using it to hold beautifully colored eggs. Consider setting eggs on a silver candelabra, brass candlesticks, or even inside little votive cups. Use tacky wax to secure eggs, if necessary.

White-on-White

Few things are more inviting than a white-on-white color scheme for spring. Here, a couple dozen hard-boiled eggs and a bunch of white tulips from the supermarket set the scene on a table filled with pristine white china and sparkling clear glassware.

Tulip Delight

Put the eggs in a clear glass bowl, add a few inches of water, and arrange tulips so the stems are in the water.

Egg Flower Cups

Blown-out raw eggs with small holes hold individual tulips at plate side. We've propped these in silver napkin rings, but egg cups or tiny votive holders might work just as well.

Edible Flowers

Before using edible flowers as a garnish or in a salad, spray them with a gentle stream of cool water in the sink, then carefully pat them dry with paper towels. Use immediately.

Note: Never eat flowers from a florist, a nursery, or a garden shop; they may have been sprayed. The same rule applies to flowers you find growing along a road or in a park.

Growing Bunny Grass

Add a drainage hole to the container if it doesn't already have one. Fill with potting soil and plant grass seed about 1/8 inch deep, and then water. Place container in sunlight, watering every two days. Grass should be ready in five to seven days. Nestle colored eggs or stones into the grass.

Parrot Tulips

Tulips shine with their own personality, and because they continue to grow after cutting, they'll even rearrange themselves in a vase. Here, the stems are cut short to gather the flowers tightly into a mass of colorful ruffles.

Hydrangeas and Grape Hyacinths

Pink hydrangeas and grape hyacinths clustered in a crystal compote make for a supremely simple arrangement. A hidden grid of floral or transparent tape across the bowl's top supports the cloud of blooms.

Peonies, Tulips and Sweet Peas

Pink peonies and orange tulips harmonize beautifully with green hosta leaves from the spring garden. Try gently folding back the outer petals of the tulips to show off their inner petals.

Lilacs, Siberian Iris, Peonies, Sweet Peas

An abundance of fragrant blooms fills a pair of shapely vases. The exuberance of the large bouquet comes from the way its brilliant colors splash against one another, just as they might in the garden. For longer life, cut lilacs from the bush just as the flowers begin to open. Sweet peas make an impact on their own in the smaller vase.

Viburnum, Tulips and Lisianthus

A green-and-white scheme is easy on the eye and perfect for spring entertaining. This bouquet includes viburnum, French tulips, lisianthus, roses, and hosta leaves. After cutting viburnum, crush the woody stems' edges to help them better absorb water.