a simple table centrepiece

If you have plenty of rosemary in the garden you can use it to cover drinking tumblers for the table centres in the marquee. Covering a tumbler or medium-sized jam jar (Bonne Maman French jam jars are ideal), is a good cheap technique to make a table centre arrangement more interesting.

When you're sitting at the table, the vase is there, staring you in the face, almost exactly at eye level, so what you do with the container is almost as important as what you do with the flowers. Then just fill the tumbler with the flower you have most of in the garden. We filled some with sweet peas – for the scent – but for most we used the lovely white Nigella papillosa 'African Bride'.

How to make a simple table centrepiece

1. Wrap the glass in two full circles of florist’swater-proof glue-tack, spaced 5cm (2in) apart. If you can’t find glue-tack, use wide, double-sided sticky tape.

2. Use something like rosemary or lavender - which last well out of water - and stick the stems onto the tape, adding bit by bit, all the way round. Trim off excess stems at the bottom.

3. Attach a pin holder to the bottom of the tumbler with more glue-tack, fill with water and arrange the flowers in the glass. I like using lots of just one flower.

See Sarah's other arrangement ideas:

- How to make an everlasting Christmas garland
- How to make a flower grid