Tips on Autumn Foraging (Foliage for Free!)

As you will know, if you’ve been a follower of the blog for any length of time, I love being creative with foliage. Whether it’s the Super Massive Hoop of Dreams on my dining room wall or a Christmas mantel swag, if it’s greenery of any kind I love it. One of my favourite things to do is go for a walk (especially at this time of year when the colours are changing and the days are getting shorter) and do a spot of foraging. Read on for my tips on Autumn foraging.

First things first, get yourself some good secateurs. I have a pair in the car and these ones that usually live in the garden shed. Depending on what foliage you’re after you may have to cut through some thick stems, and cutting with some sharp secateurs is kinder to the plant that ragging it about. I snuck them in my pocket while I was going on the school run!

 

 

I like to keep an eye out when we’re walking and remember where I’ve seen certain things. On one of our lockdown walks, I noticed where there was some honesty growing and made a mental note to nip back once the seedheads had come out.

Generally things that grow at the side of the road are fine to take a few stems of, but if in doubt always ask the landowner’s permission.

Don’t take every last stem. You want to leave some for the birds and the insects that need the nectar or seeds to survive. If there are only three stems, take one and leave two. Or better still, find another patch with more stems.

 

I went out for a walk this morning with the intention of cutting some honesty and came home with a huge handful of foliage. I found some smokebush that was hanging out from someone’s garden onto the road (I knocked and asked permission to cut a few stems). I got honesty, I got some dead ragwort, some dying ferns and some heads of docks that were finished and had turned brown. There were also some yarrow (achillea) growing so I cut a couple of stems from this.

When I got home I “arranged” them in a vase, using that term very loosely! This beautiful arrangement has cost me nothing but time, and is a perfect autumn centrepiece for our table.

Do you think you’d give this a go? It’s a great way to get out and about which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is so important now more than ever. I hope these Autumnal foraging tips were useful for you and you can create your own autumnal centrepiece.