Holiday Décor From Your Garden

Wreath decorations can include whatever colors and textures are in your garden

Bare branches offer dramatic strength to bouquets

Succulent-studded pumpkins last for months. When the pumpkin decays, succulents can be planted into containers or into the garden

Many-colored succulents provide a long-lived rainbow

Persimmons provide their own holiday color

Including the persimmon leaves as the temperatures chill and they begin to fall

     Resplendent in fruits and leaves of the season, graced with velvet and ribbons, or simply highlighted with a solitary ornament, wreaths, garlands and bouquets are easy to make and wonderful to receive – especially when you’ve made them with materials from your garden.
     Like giving certain flowers to imply messages -- love with a white rose, remembrance with forget-me-nots -- you can decorate your wreath or hanging with items that are especially meaningful to you.  If you're giving it to a friend, include items of special significance to just the two of you will make it all the more a treasure.  It can commemorate a special day or event, or just celebrate your camaraderie.
     In ancient Rome, circular wreaths were symbols of victory and celebration.  In 16th century Germany, fir or spruce wreaths were laid flat on a table with a candle lit on the first Sunday of Advent.  Today, the wreath symbolizes continuity and tradition.
     Evergreen boughs brought indoors by Druids were honored as sacred plants that didn't die, and hence that the house would also survive the winter.  Primitive tribes in Europe hung evergreens above their doors during the winter solstice to offer woodland spirits shelter and, they hoped, bring good fortune and health.  Today's garlands continue to brighten our doors and window sills, mantels and tables.
     Your creation can be as simple as a bunch of favorite herb branches tied with a ribbon, or as complex as a large and intricate wreath embellished with many sentimental items from a person's lifetime.  It can be as fancy or as plain as you want, worked on for weeks or completed on the spur of the moment. 
     Materials can encompass anything you can get your hands on -- from grapevine trimmings off the back fence and herb sprigs from the kitchen garden, to pine cones from an excursion to the foothills, to posies you dried or chili peppers you strung last summer, to ribbons galore from the fabric store.
     A great way to find unexpected possibilities is to wander the aisles in craft stores, trying many combinations of textures and colors to see what strikes your fancy.  Matching ribbons and other bits and pieces to friends' personalities is always great fun -- choose posies for a flower lover, bicycles or running shoes for a sports person, or stuffed cacti for someone who's blustery but soft-hearted.
     Looking at "regular" items in a new way can also reveal many opportunities.  Green and red bell peppers add holiday colors to a wreath on the front door.  An oddly-curled overmature Armenian cucumber or long-necked gourd becomes the focus in a table arrangement. A tree ornament becomes special when it's the only one on a wreath hung on a child's door, signifying his or her special place. 
     Anything and everything becomes fair game when it comes to decorating.  The essence of creativity is bringing materials together in a new and exciting way -- it's all up to you and your innate cleverness and sense of humor.
 
Some Materials to Consider
 
Base

• A whole sunflower head, with the central stem portion removed, forming a "donut"
• Dried sphagnum moss (the long stringy kind, not milled)
• Eucalyptus foliage
• Evergreen clippings--pine, spruce, holly, redwood, cedar, osmanthus, juniper
• Forsythia branches (young)
• Grapevines
• Hay
• Herb foliage--bay laurel, coriander, sage, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, anise, tarragon, thyme, parsley, basil, lavender, southernwood, pennyroyal, wormwood
• Honeysuckle trimmings
• Magnolia leaves
• Olive branches (young)
• Pinecones
• Raffia
• Straw
• Styrofoam flat shapes or balls
• Willow branches (young, peeled to reveal blond-colored wood)
• Wisteria trimmings

 
Decoration

• Candy canes
• Chili peppers
• Cookies--cutouts, gingerbread men
• Dried ferns and other greens
• Dried flowers
• Dried fruits
• Dried Indian corn ears with husks partially removed to reveal colored kernels
• Dried rosebuds splashed with rose oil
• Dried safflower pods
• Eucalyptus pods
• Fabrics in rich colors, patterns, and textures
• Fall-colored leaves
• Flourescent glow strips and stickers
• Fresh flowers, some fragrant like freesias or hyacinths--replace as they droop, or place stems in florist's small cymbidium orchid vials to last several days with no attention
• Fresh fruits--apples, mandarins, tangerines, lemons
• Garlic heads
• Herb blossom heads and berries
• Magnolia seed cones
• Miniature tree lights
• Mistletoe
• Nuts--walnuts, almonds, filberts, brazils, chestnuts
• Onion bulbs
• Oranges stuck with whole cloves
• Ornaments
• Pinecones
• Popcorn on a string
• Pretzels
• Pyracantha clippings of berries and leaves
• Raffia
• Ribbon candy
• Seed pods
• Shocks of wheat or sorghum
• Silk flowers
• Small statuary
• Tinsel
• Your child's artwork