I am a holiday decoration junkie. In our home last December, there were no fewer than 11 trees of various sizes, nearly two dozen different nativities from around the world, several holiday plants and many other assorted holiday decorations.
I always enjoy looking for new and vintage holiday decorations to feed my decoration addiction, but this year the decoration pickings are slim at many stores due to supply-chain disruptions (which I imagine to somehow have been engineered by the Grinch himself).
The good news is that if you are looking for some new ideas for holiday decorations this year, look no further than your own backyard or your local garden center for different types of fresh conifer and evergreen greenery that is sure to brighten up the inside and outside of your home this holiday season.
Decorating the outside and inside of the house with fresh evergreens is one of the oldest winter holiday traditions, having been used in ancient winter festivals. Evergreens were used to represent everlasting life and hope for the return of spring. Today, decorating for the holidays with fresh greenery is more popular than ever, with many different plants providing a wide array of foliage with different characteristics for holiday decorating.
Types of greenery
Almost any type of evergreen or conifer can be used as holiday greenery. Firs, pines, and cedars are excellent as cut greens, as they dry out slowly and hold their needles best in warm interior temperatures. Many species of firs and cedars also provide a wonderfully festive scent when used indoors. Hemlock, spruces, and other broadleaf evergreens will last longer when used as outdoor decorations as they tend to dry out and drop needles very quickly. Holly branches are very traditional winter holiday decorations with branches from female plants prized for their bright red berries.
Gathering greenery
One of the best places to look for holiday greenery is your home landscape. Many of the evergreens and conifers that we use in our home landscapes are excellent sources of greenery for holiday decorating.
Common landscape shrubs such as arborvitae, junipers, boxwood, and cypress make excellent holiday greenery. Avoid using greenery from yews (taxus sp.) as the hard seed inside the red berry is toxic, as is its foliage.
When gathering fresh greenery from trees and shrubs in the home landscape, remember that you are actually pruning these plants when you remove branches so consider carefully which branches to cut and which to leave. Distribute cuts evenly around the plant to maintain its natural shape and density. Be sure to use sharp cutters to remove branches and place cut ends into water until you are ready to use them.
Before bringing the greenery inside, soak them in water overnight for maximum hydration of the stems. Once the greenery has dried, it should be treated with an anti-transpirant such as Wilt-Pruf to help seal in the moisture.
One of the benefits of gathering greenery from your home landscape is that it will be very fresh and will last longer and stay greener when harvested immediately before use.
If you don’t have conifers or evergreens in your home landscape, most local garden centers offer a wide variety of greenery for purchase, including items which we won’t find in our home landscape at this time of year, such as magnolia leaves.
How to use greenery
Fresh-cut greenery from conifers and evergreens can be used to make several different types of holiday decorations for the home. Greens can be made into wreaths, swags, and roping to adorn doorways and windows or fashioned into centerpieces for tables or bookcases. Fresh cut greens can also be placed into vases with water or used in arrangements with cut flowers or other natural decorations. Simple boughs of greens also provide tasteful backdrops for nativities and other holiday collections.
Use caution when incorporating candles or electric lights with fresh greenery as greens can dry out quickly. Never place fresh greenery near heat sources such as heater vents, fireplaces or space heaters. Check greenery every few days to make sure it has not become dried out or brittle. Dry and brittle greenery should be removed and replaced to extend the life of the decorations.
No matter which winter holidays are celebrated at your house, greenery from different conifers and evergreens is sure to add to the festiveness of the holiday.
Mike Hogan is an associate professor at Ohio State University and an educator at the OSU Extension.
hogan.1@ osu.edu