How to Decorate a Vase with Lemon Slices (It’s Easy!)
If you love decorating with citrus, you’ve probably admired the fancy floral arrangements and centrepieces using vases lined with lemon slices. The good news is that it is so easy to do this yourself at home. You can easily make your own spectacular lemon floral arrangements. Find out how to decorate a vase with lemon slices with one simple trick.
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Lemon vases aren’t just for parties
I’ve always loved lemon themed decorations. Whenever I’m looking for lemon inspired floral arrangements, I always find wonderful images of weddings, milestone birthdays and other big occasions. Vases filled with lemon slices and beautiful flowers are often at the centre. But why wait for a big occasion? Decorating a vase with lemon slices is easy and inexpensive, so why not do it at home. Beautiful flowers at home always bring me joy.
What you’ll need
If you’ve been puzzled by how to create a vase with perfectly arranged lemon slices around the edge, wonder no more. It’s a really simple trick. You’ll just need two vases that fit neatly one inside the other, leaving enough room to slide the lemon slices between the two. Cylinder shaped vases work best, although you could also use a hurricane glass shape for the outside vase. Square based vases would also look lovely, but it will be harder to evenly space the lemon slices. Round shapes are much easier to work with.
If you don’t have a smaller vase to use inside, you can also use a jar or a drinking glass. Just be sure to chose two glass containers that are very similar in height.
The only materials you need are:
- 2 glass vases (one smaller, so that it fits inside the other);
- fresh lemons;
- sharp knife and chopping board;
- fresh flowers of your choice;
- water.
The number of lemons you’ll need depends on the size of your vase. As a guide, the vase I’ve used is about 20cm/8inches high and 15cm/6inches in diameter and I only needed 2 lemons.
What flowers to use in your lemon floral arrangement
There are so many different flowers that will look amazing in a vase decorated with lemon slices. I chose blue hydrangeas, because I have so many in the garden at the moment. And the blue shades go so well with the bright lemon yellow of the citrus slices.
Other colours that look beautiful with the lemon slices are white, pinks and oranges. I love Fine out more colours that match with lemon in our post, Colours That Go With Lemon Yellow – The Best Combinations. Or you could even fill your vase with more bright and sunny yellow, with some sunflowers or daffodils, depending on what’s in season.
You don’t have to choose a single flower type of course. A floral arrangement with leaves and greenery and an assortment of colourful blooms would look beautiful too.
Assembling the lemon vase
Using a sharp knife, cut the lemons into slices approximately 1/2cm or 1/4inch think. They should be thick enough to hold their shape, but not so thick that you’ll have difficulty inserting them between the layers of glass. Remove any obvious seeds.
Place the smaller vase inside the larger vase. Slide lemon slices into the gap between the two vases. Insert one layer at a time around the vase, ensuring that the slices touch. You may need to use the handle of a spoon or another thin object to push the slices down neatly.
Fill the outside layer containing the lemon slices with water to the top of the vase, Only fill the centre vase about 3/4 full. You don’t want the water from the flowers to overflow into the outer layer. (You’ve probably seen that vase water can get quite a brown colour after a few days, and the last thing you want is for your crystal clear lemon slice vase to turn brown!)
Your vase is now ready to fill with your favourite floral arrangement.
Keeping your lemon slice vase fresh
The trick to making your lemon floral arrangement last is to keep both the flowers and the lemon slices well watered. Top up both the centre vase and the outer section with the citrus slices regularly.
If you look after your arrangement, it could last up to 2 weeks. This will depend on the temperature in your home and the types of flowers you’ve used. Using really fresh lemon slices to decorate your vase will help it stay looking good for longer. Once the lemon slices start to get mushy or the water becomes cloudy, it’s time to drain the water and add the flowers and lemon slices to your compost or green waste.
More lovely lemon ideas
If you love decorating with lemons, make sure you have a look at our huge roundup of the best lemon print cushions for every decorating style. There are gorgeous lemon cushions from tradition to mid century modern, Hamptons style and everything in between.
If you have lots of lemons to use up, why not make some quick and easy lemon curd. You’ll find this and lots of other citrus recipes on our recipe page.
And don’t forget to subscribe for more lemon inspiration for your home, kitchen and garden.
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