Live Holiday Tree Care and From-The-Garden Decorations

Euphorbia's brilliant pink blossoms

Paperwhites and continuing-to-bloom daylily

Rose blooms following pruning 2 months ago

Spider lily bulbs proliferate nicely

Delicate purple blooms of Hypoestes aristata, Ribbon Bush.

Satsuma mandarin's first fruits ripening

Green peppers set better during the coolness

Holiday colors in red and green -- anyone know its name?

Cestrum

Succulent color

Leonitus leonurus starting to bloom following pruning 2 months ago

Succulent color. Anyone know its name?

Shrimp plant holiday red-and-green color

Oxalis triangularis

​     If you plan to decorate a live holiday tree indoors and then move or plant it outdoors afterwards, choose a smaller size of tree, as it'll adapt better to conditions indoors and then again outdoors than a more mature one.
     After you bring the tree home, water it well and store it in an unheated garage or outbuilding for two or three days as a "half way spot" transition area before you move it indoors.
       Keep the rootball moist and the boughs misted. 
     Once you bring the tree indoors, give these living plants bright indirect light, keep them cool and out of drafts, and water them just enough to keep the potting mix barely moist.  Place it away from heating vents or fireplaces.  Water it either directly into its potting mix or by scattering ice cubes around the soil surface but away from the tree trunk every couple of days to slowly seep down into the entire root ball.
      Limit its time indoors to a maximum of seven days; fewer if the house is very warm.
     After removing its decorations, move the tree outside again to the garage, shed, or protected spot for at least two weeks to allow it to readjust to the cool outdoors.  The longer you enjoy the tree in the warm house, the longer it will need to reacclimate to outdoor conditions.
 
More Decorating Ideas From The Garden

• Small Norfolk Island pines can become mini-Christmas trees, with their own tiny lights and ornaments.
• Provide each room in the house with its own individually decorated tree--like cookie cutters hung with red ribbon bows for the kitchen.
• Other living plants for indoor color include African violets, azaleas, begonias, Christmas cactus, Christmas (Jerusalem) cherry, cyclamen, and kalanchoe, as well as the ever-dependable chrysanthemum and poinsettia.
• Cacti and succulents are also good choices, but they need direct sunlight and very little water.
• Pyracantha berries alternated with popcorn make attractive garlands.
• Oranges, lemons or apples sprinkled with cinnamon or cardamom and stuck with whole cloves are delightfully fragrant pomander balls.
• Rose hips add bright red and orange colors to green wreaths.
• Vines from grapes, honeysuckle, wisteria, willow, or ivy will bend into many usable shapes as the basis for more decoration.
• Eucalyptus pods, pine cones, acorns, and magnolia leaf clusters provide many shades of brown.
• Bufford's Holly, which grows better here than the traditional variety, gives us stickery-leafed green with red berries.
• Prunings from conifers and broad-leafed evergreens such as incense cedar, fir, laurel, magnolia, oleander, pine, pittosporum, podocarpus, and viburnum.
• The red berries from cotoneaster, nandina, and pyracantha always serve as a bright accent.
• Herbs, too, can trim yule logs, flavor jelly, give fragrance to clusters of twigs or wreaths and perfume the air in stovetop potpourris.
• And, of course, the mistletoe.