Garden Offers Ideas for Holiday Decor

If you’d like to gather some fresh new ideas for decorating your home this holiday season, think about your garden. The garden? Yes! It has lots of interesting and unusual bits of foliage for your decorating needs.

Evergreens provide a nice foundation for your creativity. Choose pine, fir or redwood boughs to shape into wreaths, swags, garland and mantel pieces. If you don’t have those, use junipers. There are lots of textures and colors to choose from in the evergreen families.

Incorporating color into a wreath or door sag is as easy as opening your eyes to the many berried varieties of plants in the yard. Choose pyracantha, holly (variegated and green), cotoneaster or berberis. The rich colors of nandina foliage can also brighten your creations. You might be able to find some red or magenta liquidambar leaves to tuck into your wreaths for accent color.

Early blooming Sasanqua camellias provide accents of holiday color. Display a few branches with some fresh greenery in your favorite crystal vase. Don’t stop there with somewhat traditional greens. How about magnolia leaves? The glossy green leaves are great for working into centerpieces and mantle pieces. Magnolias will also hold up well if sprayed with silver or gold spray paint or glitter.

One should spray and coat any garden materials you display inside with an anti-transpirant spray, which is a clear and flexible film designed to prolong freshness.