With Thanksgiving behind us, there is no denying Christmas is right around the corner. Our quiet country road was abuzz with traffic on Black Friday with families heading to the neighbor's Christmas tree farm. Conifers are king in our neck of the woods, with Christmas trees being a major agriculture crop due to our high rainfall and acid soils providing perfect conditions for growing trees. In fact it's hard to keep land clear here, it naturally wants to grow trees.
That being said, many people do get a natural tree, but still buy many decorations for the rest of their homes that aren't natural at all. I have to admit I am a sucker for the bright colors of ornaments and lights, but I'm trying to end it there, and have more natural decorations to go along with the fir tree we will decorate.
Douglas Fir bark with lichen.No matter where we live we can look outside in our surroundings and find something to decorate with. My daughter and I challenged ourselves to make a bouquet to get us in the Christmas spirit. But, it had to be out of ordinary plants available nearby, and put together quickly. She took off with the camera, and I took off with my trusty Felco pruners.
Cotoneaster, bird planted.She was attracted to the berries on various plants, all these are natives or wildings and just part of our landscape on the farm.
Snowberry.
English Holly.
In the wintertime we cut firewood on any dry day that we are all available. We're taking out dead or damaged trees, and the dead trees have loose bark. Living in a rain forest means moss and lichen grow on anything that doesn't move. It is lovely and perfect for bringing in to dress up a vase or to decorate with.
For our impromptu arrangement we went for scotch broom and sword fern for filler and just added a spray of holly and a multi-branched snowberry to add some contrast.
We know this bouquet wouldn't win any prizes at the fair, but it was fun, didn't cost a penny, and we brought a little bit of the forest into our house to enjoy.
What types of greenery or natural items do you have in your neck of the woods to decorate with?
6 comments:
Lots of great ideas here..thanks!
I love natural decorations. I try to do as many as I can and we always buy a real tree. One thing to remember when you gather natural decorations is to make sure you evict all the bugs before bringing your decorations inside.
These are just beautiful. Thinking of what I can use from my backyard. Great inspiration- thanks!
Our ecological niche is similar to yours though much closer to sea level - so douglas fir, western red cedar, english holly, snow berries, hawthorn, salal, some blue spruce (domestic, not wild), cotoneaster of various types, english ivy. I usually use the fir, cedar, holly and salal for decorating, always have done. I am not a poinsettia fan, but someone usually gives us one and I feel sorry for it coming into enemy territory like this.
I think your arrangement is gorgeous. I prefer homegrown natural over florist perfect any day.
Trimmings from some of my shrubs are long lasting and good looking. But, the real abundance is pine cones. I haven't bought a real tree for many years, but I sometimes glue pine cones together to replicate a short tree (and no needles on the floor). They're also pretty just tossed loose in a bowl with a leftover piece of ribbon. Merry Christmas.
brenda from arkansas
Love decorating with stuff we gather from nature. I hope to get out back this weekend to gather some berries & tips.I like your idea of the bark around the jar.
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