Growing Wise : holiday decorations

Holiday Clippings

Elisabeth — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:33:00 GMT

If you are trying to save a little money on holiday decorations, take stock of the plants already in your yard. Any kind of evergreen--yew, rhododendron, pine, hemlock, arborvitae, spruce--can be used in holiday flower arrange or to "deck the halls". Cut long branches and wire them together for roping to adorn stairways or mantles. Add smaller pieces to wreathes to fatten them up. Even "nontraditional" greens like variegated euonymous can be combined with holly, winterberry holly or hypericum berries for festive arrangements or hangings.

Since I didn't get the time to prune an overgrown yew last summer or fall, I combined two jobs--pruning and gathering holiday greens--and came away with an armload of yew boughs. Armed only with clippers, a package of florist's wire and four small candles, I made an Advent wreath. I am not particularly "crafty", but the end results look pretty good.

I will also use the various boughs and branches to decorate my porch and fill the empty pots by the front door.

Going "green" can mean making the best use of the greens that you have on hand. They are free for the taking and biodegradable after the holidays are over.

Dried Hydrangea

Elisabeth — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:46:00 GMT

When I was growing up we had a decorator friend who could not get through the holidays without a can (or two) of gold spray paint. Everything looked more festive sprayed gold, from Rose of Sharon seedpods from the garden; to a collection of old sheets and styrofoam balls, which our friend fashioned into a trio of gilded angels, using toothpicks and a can of gold spray paint.

I thought of this recently as I considered my own holiday decorations. Like many people, we are cutting back a bit this year, but want the house to look festive. I thought of all those peegee hydrangea flowerheads that I meant to hang and dry two months ago, while they still had their wonderful dusty pink fall color. Other chores intervened and the flowerheads are still on the plants. They are tan now, but they remain big and beautifully shaped. I'll combine some of them with gold and russet mums or carnations for the Thanksgiving centerpiece. The can of gold spray paint will be put to good use when I spray many more of the hydrangea flowers for holiday arrangements. Some of the gold hydrangeas will also be wired to evergreen wreathes or used to decorate the Christmas tree.

We gardeners have always known that you can find just about everything you need in the garden. That is even more true over the holidays.

Holly With a Twist

Elisabeth — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:13:00 GMT

In a few weeks, holly will start showing up everywhere, as people begin to deck their halls. One of the delights of having holly trees or shrubs is that you can cut your own holly, which is often fresher and better than you can buy in stores or garden centers. I am particularly lucky because my garden is home to a couple of variegated holly bushes."Variegation" means that the leaves of a particular plant are not completely green. A variegated specimen may have white or yellow leaf edges. In the alternate, a variegated plant might have white, cream or yellow leaves edged in green. Leaves can also be blotched or spotted with a contrasting color. The only constant is that plants with variegated leaves add sparkle to a garden. The Victorians loved variegation and it has made a huge comeback in the last fifteen years. My favorite variegated hollies combine the brilliant red berries that make the plants so wonderful in holiday arrangements, with glossy, dark green leaves edged in cream. The 'Honey Maid' cultivar (Ilex x merserveae 'Honey Maid') has this color combination. Sprigs of 'Honey Maid' work well in holiday wreathes and can be combined with pieces of regular green holly to add a little piquancy to indoor decor. In December I usually arrange a mix of hollies in a freshly polished brass tea kettle and place it on the coffee table in my living room. The combination of green, red and gold is perfect right through New Year's.If you decide to grow holly, make sure that you have a female plant, as the males do not set berries. If there are male hollies in your neighborhood, pollination may not be a worry, but if you have the room, buy a male variety as well. Either 'Blue Prince' or 'Blue Baron', plain-leafed varieties of Ilex x merserveae, would work well for this purpose. Remember that hollies like acid soil, but that once they are established, they pretty much take care of themselves.

Painted Ladies

Elisabeth — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:18:00 GMT

Today I went to a large local garden center to pick out some moderately priced plants to use as last minute holiday gifts. I was struck by the vast and varied array of poinsettias. I was also impressed by how much poinsettias have changed.

The poinsettias of my childhood were almost always large plants with big, red petal-like bracts. Now the sky's the limit when it comes to size, form and color. Red is still king, but now nurseries offer darker and lighter red shades plus pink, white and bi-colored varieties. A few years ago, nursery owners, spurred on by decorators, first saw the merchandising opportunities inherent in the combination of white poinsettias and spray paint. Now you can buy blue, multi-colored, gold or silver-painted plants, with or without sparkles. Your holiday decor can be as retro, futuristic, psychedelic or just plain wacky as you want and you'll probably be able to find a poinsettia to match.

Poinsettias also come in a range of sizes--from little minis in four inch pots to behemoths that stand three feet tall, counting the container. I am particularly fond of the rose-form poinsettias, which have multiple small bracts that make the "flowers" resemble roses. Despite the high bract count, they seem a little less over-the-top than other varieties.

We live in a world full of all kinds of trouble and peril, and one of the best ways to deal with the stress is to fill our houses with beautiful living things. Poinsettias do a wonderful job of home beautification--even if they do it clad in electric blue.

Botanical Decorations

Elisabeth — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 04:08:00 GMT

Several years ago I saw a Christmas tree at the New York Botanical Garden that was decorated from top to bottom with dried flowers. It was extravagant, colorful and perfect for the season and setting.

The floral designers at the Botanical Garden have the advantage of access to a vast array of dried material. My resources are more limited, but every year I dry lots of hydrangea, sedum and rosebuds gathered on my property. Now I use them to decorate our Christmas wreathes, and when I look at those wreathes they remind me of my summer garden. I think there is a certain symmetry to celebrating the holidays that occur around the time of the winter solstice with dried flowers that began blooming just after the summer solstice and were harvested around the fall equinox. At a time when the lifestyle pendulum has once again swung back in the direction of simplicity and an emphasis on environmentalism, nothing could be more natural--in every sense of the word--and nothing could be more right.