Gardens
Vine Art: A Stunning Smilax Centerpiece
The creeping beauty adds drama to Southern Thanksgiving centerpieces

photo: Margaret Houston
Southern smilax can act a little like its sister plant wisteria, swallowing things whole in the wild with swirling tendrils. But that free-spirited look has also earned the vine a fan club among Southerners, who forage the trailing evergreen to use as wedding decor or to drape on holiday mantels. For a Thanksgiving centerpiece, consider pairing smilax with orange and peach dahlias and red zinnias, which bloom until first frost. “I love the freshness of using foliage with a vibrant fall palette and letting the vine drop from the table to the floor,” says Sara York Grimshaw, the Charleston, South Carolina, floral designer who created this arrangement. In wooded areas, “look for a thick vine climbing into the trees,” she advises, “and bring your gloves because some smilaxes have sharp thorns.”
Related Stories:

Home & Garden
Set the Stage for Stylish Mingling on the Porch
Get outside and refresh your outdoor space with new barware, furniture, and decor

Home & Garden
The Home Tucked Inside a Historic Mill House
The lasting legacy and new life of the Old Mill House in Mountain Brook, Alabama

Homeplace
Dierks Bentley’s Nashville Bungalow Sings
The country superstar and his family put down roots in a bright Music City bungalow
Trending Stories:

Music
Song Premiere: Listen to Chapel Hart’s New Single, “If You Ain’t Wearing Boots”
New music from the Mississippi trio who rose to fame last year on America’s Got Talent

Arts & Culture
“The Outsiders” Turns Forty
See rare images of the stars—before they were big—around the Oklahoma set

Arts & Culture
A South Carolina Seafood Company Reveals a Piece of Forrest Gump History
How much shrimp is required to create a movie classic? About six thousand pounds, apparently