Welcome to the 894th Tablescape Thursday! One of my favorite centerpieces to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas is a Colonial Williamsburg-style Apple Tree.
They don’t always have to be made with apples; you can use almost any kind of fruit, including small oranges, lemons, and limes. I really like how this tree turned out with lemons and limes. Magnolia leaves make a great base on which to place the tree form. If I have any shrubs/trees in my yard with berries, I try to incorporate the berries into the centerpiece, as well. I’ve used both holly and nandina berries in the past. Holly works best, but I’ve placed nandina berries around the base for some added color.
I always like to top my tree off with a small pineapple. I used to see these tree forms available at the Colonial Williamsburg Marketplace online, but unfortunately, their shop appears to have closed. My form was given to me as a gift at Christmastime by a co-worker many years ago. Sadly, she has passed away now, but I still think of her every time I pull out my tree form to use during the holidays. (Thank you, Winifred, for this thoughtful gift so many years ago.)
I remember her saying that she found it in a little impromptu market that was set up during a Christmas home tour she had attended with a friend. It appears to have been handmade using finishing nails.
Looking online this morning, I found a few available on eBay and similar sites. Here are the ones I found during a quick online search: Vintage Colonial Williamsburg Apple Tree Form AND Wooden Fruit Cone Form Centerpiece. Update: I found quite a few of these apple forms/cones here: Apple Tree Form/Cone. You’ll find the tutorial where I shared how I add fruit and greenery to mine here: Make a Beautiful Colonial Williamsburg Centerpiece for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Looking forward to the beautiful tables linked for this week’s Tablescape Thursday!
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Susan, Colonial Williamsburg does still have an on-line store, it’s just not called the Marketplace and I’ve sometimes had a hard time finding it. However, if you google “Colonial Williamsburg on-line store”, you will find a link. It worked for me!
Thanks for that info, Lisa! I was so disappointed when I couldn’t find it this morning. I kept finding links to a shopping area instead.
It’s called the Shops at Colonial Williamsburg; they don’t seem to have the apple cone form, but I’ve also found them on ETSY. I live an hour from Williamsburg so been there many times. It is so pretty decorated for Christmas!
I would love to see it at Christmastime. I’ve been there a couple of times but never during Christmas. I know it has to be beautiful!
That’s a beautiful centerpiece Susan. It looks lovely with the apples and with the citrus. I could see using all different kinds of fruit. And I love your tree form. How sweet that you got it from a friend. Thanks as always for the inspiration and the party! Hope you have a lovely week and weekend!
Thanks, Barbara! Our snow has melted and it’s beautiful out now. Hope you’re seeing nice weather for your weekend!
Very pretty! Must smell good too with the citrus. Thoughtful Winifred knew you too well. All the years of remembrance. I had an older co-worker who gave me a cookbook for my wedding. She had a sense of humor as she signed a note to the both of us on the cardboard removable flap and added in confidence to me that I could always remove it if “things didn’t work out”! lol Every time I use the cookbook I think of Dorothy and smile.
Too funny! Sounds like she had a great sense of humor. ♥
I’ve made many and have had the form FOREVER! I now make each year with my grandchildren. The grands add the apples and, instead of the pineapple, now use a little Santa on top. Then the next day, the “elf on a shelf” stops by, adding the greenery.. as he sits proudly next to the “apple tree”.
Love that, Caren! 🙂
Susan, I thought of you recently when I was in Publix. They have their Christmas ice cream flavors available. I hope you stocked up. Do you run a humidifier in the winter to counteract the dry heat? I don’t have one now, but I have used one in the past. I hated cleaning it and could never really get to all the mold. I figured I was adding mold to the air in addition to moisture. I’m wondering if all humidifiers are like that. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
If you run a warm mist humidifier, you shouldn’t have any trouble. I don’t like the cool mist, those leave a film on everything in the room, or they did when I tried one. I’ve never had a problem with mold or anything like that when running the Vicks Warm Mist Humidifiers that I use. I run one in my office during the day and one in my bedroom at night. I can’t sleep without one in my bedroom, I wake up feeling so dried if I forget to turn it on before going to bed. This is the one that I have: https://amzn.to/443J4zl
I wish I could stock up but I won’t be around a Publix for very long this year, and wouldn’t have any way to get it to the Dollhouse. Graeter’s makes a great peppermint icecream here, so I’ll probably pick up a few of those.
Hi! I have an 18th century-style home as you do. I think we have the same dining room chandelier. I have long wanted the Christmas apple tree and was inspired by your post to do it. I found on with original box and instructions on Ebay, and bought it. The seller was lovely, answering my questions and offering her encouragement. Thank you for the post or I probably would let another holiday pass without doing the apple tree.
That’s wonderful, Catherine! I would love to see a photo of your apple tree if you do one this year. Congrats on finding one; I know they are tricky to find these days.
I remember purchasing a cartload of the apple tree forms at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory on clearance for $2.50 each in the late 1980s. Whenever visitors commented on my gorgeous pineapple-topped dining room table display, they were gifted one of the forms from my haul before they departed.
I have two left. My apple tree forms are beginning to show their age, but then, so am I!
Wow, what a deal that was! I would have bought a dozen, for sure. lol So nice of you to share them as you did over the years!