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Every fall, someone walks into the shop holding up their phone with this exact basket pulled up, asking if we can make “that one.” I don’t blame them. It’s one of the best fall arrangement tutorials I’ve come across, and it’s from Eddie Zaratsian, a designer whose work I’ve followed for years.
What makes this one worth your time is the structure. He’s not draping a ribbon over a grocery store bouquet and calling it fall. He’s building something with real bones, using flowers you won’t find sitting in a bucket at your local supermarket.
Watch the video below first. Then stick around, because I’ll walk you through where to source the flowers and supplies, what to swap in if you can’t find the originals, and one step almost every DIYer skips that ends up costing them later.
Watch This Basket Build Step by Step
If you learn better by watching a pro’s hands than by reading a materials list, this is worth the ten minutes. Watch it, and see if you agree the ribbon trick alone is worth the price of admission.
Grab These Supplies Before You Start
The oval woven basket and floral foam are your foundation. Cut the foam to line the bottom before you touch a single stem; that structure is what keeps everything upright later.
You’ll also need coral French wired ribbon, hyacinth sticks, and a hot glue gun for securing the pomegranates in place. None of it is exotic. You can find most of it at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or Michaels if you’d rather not order online.
What I use in the shop: floral foam — it holds water and stem structure better than the cheap stuff, which matters once you start layering heavier branches like rose hips.
What I use in the shop: French wired ribbon — the wired edge holds a shape instead of flopping, which is exactly what you want for a bow tied around a basket handle.
What I use in the shop: hyacinth stakes — they give a design height and lift without you having to source another flower stem.
What I use in the shop: a hot glue gun — get a low-temp one; it’s worth the extra few dollars, so you’re not burning your fingers gluing pomegranates into place.
If you want a deeper breakdown of what actually holds up in floral work, I put the shop’s go-to glues head-to-head in Best Floral Glue for Fresh Flowers and Foam.
Don’t Have Sedum or Rose Hips? Here’s What to Use Instead
Sedum, rose hips, and white cosmos aren’t flowers you’ll find at your grocery store’s floral counter. That’s fine. None of them are doing anything a substitute can’t.
Ask your local florist if they can order sedum or rose hips for you. Most can, even in small quantities. If they can’t, look for a similarly textured succulent in place of the sedum, and a berried branch like viburnum or bittersweet in place of the rose hips.
The pomegranates are the one ingredient you don’t need a florist for. Check the produce department. You won’t need more than a handful for one or two baskets.
If you want a broader rundown of fall flowers beyond what this build calls for, I cover the ones I reach for most, and how to combine them into a real palette, in my fall flowers guide.
If you’re building this for a wedding or a larger event and want to source true Chocolate Cosmos, I’ve only ever found them reliably at FiftyFlowers and WholeBlossoms. That deep cocoa tone has been showing up a lot in the moody, warm-toned wedding palettes I’ve been seeing lately, if that’s a direction worth exploring for your own wedding flowers.
The Ribbon Trick Most DIYers Skip
Here’s what I’d do differently than most first-timers: tie the ribbon onto the basket handle before you add a single flower, not after.
Once you’ve packed the basket with foam, sedum, and rose hip branches, wrestling a bow around a handle is how you can easily damage your work. Tie it first, and it stays out of your way for the rest of the build.
It’s a small step. But it’s the difference between a basket that looks intentional and one that looks like it lost a fight with a spool of ribbon.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long will a fall basket arrangement like this last?
With the floral foam kept full of water, expect five to seven days out of the fresh stems. The pomegranates and rose hips will hold up well past that if you let them dry in place.
Can I use a different basket shape?
Yes. Any lined, sturdy basket works. An oval gives you the elongated shape Zaratsian uses in the video. A round basket will slightly change your flower placement, but not the technique.
Do I need floral foam, or can I skip it?
For a basket this structured, foam gives you control you won’t get from a bare container of water. If you’d rather go foam-free, plan on a mechanic like chicken wire instead, and expect the build to take longer.
Where can I find hyacinth sticks?
Amazon and most craft stores like Michaels or Hobby Lobby carry them. They’re inexpensive and worth having on hand for any structured design work, not just this one.
If you want another fall design to try once this one’s second nature, take a look at Create a Fall Floral Arrangement That’s Perfect for Home Entertaining. It skips greenery entirely in favor of wide burlap ribbon and a terracing technique, a completely different structure than the basket build here.
Final Thoughts
A fall basket like this doesn’t need every stem to be exotic to work. Get the structure right, root it in what’s actually in season, and the rest falls into place on its own.
Have you tried tying the ribbon on before the flowers, or did you learn that one the hard way like a lot of us did? Let me know in the comments.
Til next time,
