Holiday Floral Inspiration

The holiday season is HERE! Can you believe it? If you’re asking where 2021 went, we’re right there with you. As we get busy preparing for feasts, family gatherings, holiday travel and more, we wanted to take a moment to encourage you to be intentional about your holiday purchases this season. When you can, shop small, support local and buy American grown!

Read on for holiday floral inspiration to help get your creative juices flowing. As you start to prepare your holiday tablescapes and decor, explore our list of fun floral activities to do with family and friends this season, and be sure to buy American grown!

Floral Activities To Do With Family And Friends 

Looking for fun, festive activities to do with family and friends this season? This list of activities are win-wins! Get creative, check holiday decorating off your to-do list and spend time with friends and family.

DIY floral arrangements

Floral arrangements make the perfect gift, table centerpiece or table decor accessory for the holidays. Personalize it even more by DIYing it using American grown!

Centerpieces

If the perfect centerpiece exists, we know where to find it! Explore beautiful table decor and tablescapes using American grown flowers and foliage, and get expert arranging tips for your DIY centerpieces.

Wreaths and garlands

There’s nothing like the smell of real holiday greenery to get you in the spirit! The places to decorate with DIY wreaths and DIY garlands in your home are endless—fireplace mantels, front doors, dining room tables, staircases and more. 

Floral trees

Want to go beyond the traditional Christmas tree? Add a creative twist to some of the tree decor around your home, and make Christmas trees out of American grown flowers and foliage!  Think outside of the box and try using greenery, succulents and more as shown here.

designer, textile + ribbon: Party Crush Studio | designer + florals: Bellevue Floral Co | photog: Ashley Baumgartner Photography

DIY cocktails

For your holiday gatherings, have each person bring ingredients to make specialty cocktails of their choosing! Take each cocktail to the next level with edible flowers.

Get even more flower and foliage inspiration throughout the year by following us on Pinterest, @AmericanGrownFlowers!

Where To Buy American Grown This Season

In case you missed it, there’s a flower and foliage shortage in the U.S. (and the world). With the demand for flowers and foliage at an all-time high due to postponed weddings and events piling up, people working from home and wanting to brighten up their space, everyone is buying and sending more flowers as gifts and more, there’s a mass shortage in product. On top of that, the floral industry, like most industries right now, is also facing a worker shortage.

“During the onset of the pandemic, there was not enough demand for flowers, which caused mass loss of product and then a huge loss of labor, which meant many farms were lost, many fields were lost, and not enough labor was in place to recover quickly enough,” says Rachel Bridgwood of Sweet Root Village in this article.

In addition, transportation is also an issue with unreliability because space for shipping and transporting flowers and foliage is limited as online shopping has increased (and we’re now approaching holiday season).

Now more than ever, it’s important to support flower and foliage farmers in your local community and the U.S. as a whole. An added bonus to supporting your local economy? Your flowers and foliage are closer (they either arrive faster or you can pick them up locally), fresher (meaning they last longer) and more reliable (they’ll for sure make it to your home).

Here’s how you can find and shop American grown this holiday season: 

1. Ask for American grown flowers and foliage at your local retailers and florists.
2. Look for the Certified American Grown seal wherever you buy your flowers and foliage.
3. Buy from your local flower and foliage farmers.
4. Search our membership directory to buy American grown from floral farmers throughout the U.S. Many have online shops and ship directly to you! (Pro tip: Filter in the “location” section of the directory to find a farm near you and filter in the “varieties” section to find the specific flowers and foliage you’re looking for or that’s in season.)

If you use any of the above holiday floral inspiration or try any of the activities we’ve listed, share and tag us on Instagram! We’d love to see how you’re using American grown this holiday season. Keep up with more floral tips and inspiration on our blog or by joining our email list.