Bring a little living greenery to the Christmas table with a centrepiece you can enjoy throughout the festive season and beyond. Choose a few compact indoor plants, add your favourite decorations and follow these simple steps to create your own.
What you’ll need
- A wide decorative bowl or planter
- Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants
- A selection of small indoor plants with similar light and watering needs
- Decorative pebbles
- Festive decorations and ribbon
- An optional battery-operated LED candle
How to make a living Christmas centrepiece
1. Choose the right container
Pick a bowl or planter that suits your Christmas table and is wide enough to hold several small plants. A container with drainage holes is best. If your decorative bowl has no drainage, keep the plants in their individual nursery pots and arrange them inside the bowl instead.
2. Prepare the container
If your container has drainage holes, place it on a waterproof saucer or liner to protect the table. Partly fill it with Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix for Indoor Plants, leaving enough room for the plants and their root balls.
For a bowl without drainage, arrange the nursery pots directly inside it. Small upturned pots or other waterproof supports can be used to create different heights and help each plant sit securely.
3. Choose your plants
Select compact indoor plants that enjoy similar conditions. Ferns, peperomias, small palms and trailing plants can work well together. Avoid combining plants with very different watering needs, such as moisture-loving ferns and succulents.
4. Arrange before planting
Place the tallest plant towards the centre or back, then position smaller and trailing plants around it. Turn the container as you work so the arrangement looks balanced from every angle.
5. Plant your centrepiece
Carefully remove each plant from its nursery pot and position it in the potting mix. Fill around the root balls without packing the mix down firmly. Leave a small gap below the rim to make watering easier.
If you are keeping the plants in their nursery pots, fill the visible spaces between them with decorations or lightweight materials that can be easily removed when watering.
6. Add some festive cheer
Cover exposed potting mix or nursery pots with decorative pebbles, then add small baubles, ribbon or other lightweight decorations. For a warm festive glow, place a battery-operated LED candle in the centre rather than a burning candle near dry foliage or decorations.
7. Keep your plants thriving
Place the centrepiece in bright, indirect light and away from harsh afternoon sun, air conditioners and hot windows. Check the potting mix before watering and only water when the surface begins to feel dry. Never allow water to collect in the base of a bowl without drainage.
The fresh potting mix already contains controlled release fertiliser, so additional feeding is not needed straight away. Once that initial feeding period has finished, you can use Scotts Osmocote Pour+Feed for Indoor Plants according to the label directions to support healthy ongoing growth.
After Christmas, remove the decorations and continue enjoying the arrangement indoors, or repot the plants individually as they grow.
