21 Winter Flower Arrangements That Might Rival Your Tree This Year (2024)

Add a touch of sophistication to your seasonal decor with an urn of billowing baubles, as did Lucy Hunter, author of The Flower Hunter, in her painterly Christmas arrangement that contrasts the heavier evergreen across the room. “We have a number of large trees at the bottom of our garden and at this time of year the wind hurtles through the valley where I live in North Wales and leaves me with some great pickings left discarded on the lawn,” Hunter says. “I love to use these, popping them into an old urn with water. Sometimes this and the evocative Christmas smell from the pine is enough but in this case I had a few old roses that were just hanging onto their petals but looked quite romantic and a few seedheads which I threaded through the greenery. So simple and quick.” And, might we add, exquisite.

For this year’s seasonal masterpiece, look no further than that abandoned nearby end-street. Just ask North Yorkshire–based floral photographer Janne Ford, who holds that treasures can be found in the unlikeliest of places. “I love seeking out inspiration in the winter hedgerow and foraging ingredients that can often be overlooked in floral design,” she says. This billowing chandelier-turned-flora fest features berried ivy, rosehips, crab apples, clematis vitalba, larch sprigs, and dried limonium.

In this blushing Moniomi banquet, a floral arrangement adds a soft yet moody palette of rusts, blushes, lilacs, and peaches with more-saturated hues. “An interesting tablescape needs a sculptural moment that is still warm, unique, and inviting,” say Moniomi’s Monica Santayana and Ronald Alvarez. “We love to use a varied selection of dried and fresh flowers, from traditional to unfamiliar stems.” Here, Santayana used dried magnolia leaves, classic garden roses, an unexpected peach shampoo ginger stem, and tropical anthuriums. Bonus tip: Dried flowers add texture and have amazing longevity.

Substitute the traditional evergreen garland for wild feathered plumes that are as dainty as they are robust. Just see the voluminous greenery in the London home of House of Hackney cofounders Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle. Here, a fireplace mantel bouquet made up of way-out sprigs and untamed greens is sure to wow every holiday guest.

Go for a classic Christmas color scheme with evergreen foliage and privet berries that add color and texture. “This holiday centerpiece is a spin on traditional luxe vibes, but still with a modern twist,” says Jojotastic’s Joanna Hawley-McBride. Our favorite unexpected addition? “Pomegranates provide a gorgeous traditional pop of red but in a new and fun way.... Finally, roses always bring a classic feel, and in the case of this arrangement, it just felt perfect,” she adds.

Swap the classic color palette this season for a feminine, French-inspired look. Afloral’s Meg Callahan created this lush compote design entirely of artificial flowers that require absolutely no upkeep (beyond the occasional dusting). “For a dramatic draping moment, we left the pears long and accented their vibrant yellow tone with subdued mauve dutchess roses and complementing Helleborus blooms,” says Callahan.

Another simple yet sophisticated faux moment, compliments to Afloral’s Meg Callahan, who combined artificial Norfolk branches and a few sprigs of faux juniper in a creamy white ceramic vase. “We blended the two winter greens for a textured, dimensional look,” Callahan says. “We also kept the Norfolk branches long, so they felt more architectural, which helped to draw the eye up in the space.”

These ample blooms offer seasonally neutral drama that we would justify for any time of the year. Complemented by a classical amphoralike vase, these billowing blooms are the archetype for floral pageantry, if there could be just one. “The request: something natural and all one type of flower,” says Viburnum Designs’s Ashling O’Brien. “Our answer: lush armfuls of local spirea, tucked into a dramatic vessel.”

Designer Shawna Underwood has an eye for reimagining classic motifs without completely doing away with tradition—especially in her latest floral assemblage, which features holiday elegance with a tropical twist. “I knew I wanted to make a big statement with the table centerpiece,” Underwood says. “I also wanted a centerpiece that was unique and not your typical go-to floral arrangement. Pepperberry foliage was the perfect solution. It provides vibrant shades of green, red, and pink and loads of texture. It takes only a few branches to achieve a full cascading look, ideal for winter.”

This California entryway statement floral moment in a Ken Fulk–designed Sonoma Estate is the ultimate holiday merriment for this sunny room. A few tastefully placed tree branches add dramatic height, while the vibrant chrysanthemum create an artistic silhouette to the spacious room. It’s the belle of the ball!

These lush, tropical bathroom plants don’t add to the moment; they are the moment. So for a holiday changeover in their London home, House of Hackney cofounders Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle needn’t do more than add a hanging succulent (on the right) and (on the left) the appropriately named mistletoe cactus. It’s channeling all our Christmas in the Bahamas vibes, Anglo-style. How smashing!

For this look, we took to the stacks in our own archives because these effortlessly arranged strawberry branches—in art curator Susan Harris and interior designer Glenn Gissler’s prewar apartment off lower Fifth Avenue—are giving us major green-thumb love. In their dining room, simple greenery adds a festive punch to the darker, brooding scheme. It’s proof that if you’ve gone evergreen happy in the rest of your space, a gentle summery vibe can bring welcome sunshine to your breakfast routine.

Celebrate the joyous season with a simple vase of peonies. This dramatic arrangement of heirloom stems in Ken Fulk’s Montana guest house is a testament to the timelessness of white buds. Our favorite detail? The farmhouse-style vase that ties into the home’s statement Thermador range and hood.

Whoever deemed roses the forever flower had certainly overlooked the resplendent peony, perched atop Atlanta-based interior designer Suzanne Kasler’s holiday-bedecked living room. While a rose by any other name would smell as sweet (thank you, Shakespeare), it’s possible that the peony might smell even sweeter. A soft combination of jasmine, rose, and gillyflower, peonies smell a bit less peppery and a little sweeter than a rose. But fragrance isn’t these prized floret’s only strong suit: These beauties are extremely cold tolerant, withstanding subzero temperatures.

Pomegranates, pepper berries, and winter kale? Who knew the colder months could offer such lush (not to mention tasty) fodder for garniture. “We love to use seasonal items for our floral arrangements, and the fall and winter are just full of unusual options,” says third-generation floral designer Anna Le Pley Taylor. “Each item here lends an unexpected texture and color that makes the arrangement feel layered and seasonally appropriate.”

This happy-hued basket of warm-toned blooms in IDCO Studio founder Anastasia Casey’s dining room offers all the drama with appropriate restraint for the scale of the table. “I started with a watertight bowl inside the basket and put a globe of chicken wire in the bowl to maintain the centerpiece’s shape,” Casey says. “I started with a half dozen faux chocolate cosmos, then added the largest branches and thick-stemmed dahlias next. This adds more structure to the arrangement and distributes the weight.” Pro tip: Don’t forget to remove leaves from the floral stems for a more curated look.

When it comes to decking the halls of your petite domicile, understated elegance can be severely underestimated. “The holidays can feel overwhelming with their glitz and glam, so sometimes it’s nice to tone things down,” says Jojotastic’s Joanna Hawley-McBride, who gathered noble fir, blue ice cypress, ponderosa pine, and tallow berries—arranging it all in this faceted geometric vase. “It’s like creating a small forest for your table. Here in the Pacific Northwest, that isn’t hard to achieve. In fact, all of the greenery we used was foraged, except for the juniper elements of the centerpiece.”

We’re swooning over this loud-and-proud crimson holiday bundle, arranged by Viburnum Designs. The bold berry sprigs are exalted by copious amounts of warm-hued magnolia leaves, all complemented by earthy red cedar branches. Talk about merry and bright! “Halls? Decked. Vases? Filled. Let’s get merry!” says Viburnum Designs’s Ashling O’Brien.

These sultry trimmings, also in Ken Fulk’s Montana ski house, bring a pop of color to an otherwise wildwood look. Still, with up to seven rescue dogs there at a time (not to mention people), the ambience in this getaway is decidedly laid-back, which is why we’re loving the intentionally slightly wilted florals that create an effortless feel.

Give your floral arrangement the royal treatment. Here, designer and Prince’s Trust patron India Hicks’s latest holiday centerpiece (which is so beautiful it almost looks edible) is proof that more is always more when done right. “There is not an occasion for less, in my opinion,” she says with a laugh. For Hicks, it’s all about layering in abundance, from traditional Christmas crackers (which she lugs all the way to her home in the Caribbean) to candles, glassware, and napkins. Her go-to source for greenery? “OKA’s foliage is very convincing, which is hard to find,” she says. “Mixing in some pheasant feathers from the garden makes it feel a little wild, and certainly not predictable—I hate predictable.”