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Season's Garlands From the Garden
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15429 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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12 / 1989 |
1,105 Words |
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Virginia Greiner
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The garden, not the mall, is the place to go for beautiful Christmas decorations. And December is the perfect month to nip out into the yard for evergreen sprigs that will fill the house with that unmistakable Christmas scent of piny forests. December is also the month to turn dried flowers and herbs into old-fashioned decorations that will rekindle remembrances of Christmas past.
No time, you say, to make homemade decorations? How long does it take to battle your way through holiday traffic to a tinsel-town mall to pay an outrageous price for a plastic monstrosity? All thumbs? Making homemade wreaths and garlands is so easy you can almost do it with your eyes closed.
You don't even have to have your own garden to raid. Many garden centers and florists sell dried flowers and herbs and bunches of fresh evergreens. Or see if you can get visitation rights to a friend's or neighbor's yard. Maybe you can make a deal: You get the greens and dried flowers, and the garden's owners get one of your wreaths.
Another alternative is to buy a misshapen Christmas tree for a few dollars and hack it up for your purposes. Or if you have only a few evergreen cuttings, use them to fill out one of those skimpy plain wreaths you plunk down fifteen to twenty-five dollars to buy. Then decorate with pods, berries, and cones to make the wreath your own.
Seasoning The Greens
The best time to cut evergreen branches is after a rain or snow, while they're still drenched. Use pruners or a very sharp knife, and snip them from inconspicuous places. Choose tip branches rather than lower ones, so you don't give a shrub a leggy look. Don't leave stubs to invite disease, and don't cut too much from any tree. Also, inspect everything carefully for eggs, disease, or live critters you don't want as houseguests.
Cut greens need extra care to get them through the holidays. "Seasoning" is the apt name for preparing boughs to prevent their drying out too quickly.
Smash the ends with a hammer and slit them up four or five inches to increase water absorption. Then submerge the branches, needles and all, in warm water, which is absorbed more quickly than cold. A laundry tub is perfect. Leave the boughs at least overnight, then store them in a bucket of water in a cool place for a few days.
You can make simple or intricate use of these homegrown greens. They'll last longer if kept in water or in damp peat moss, but many will survive for several weeks without moisture.
Don't limit yourself to putting greens just on the front door and the mantel, but spread them informally around the house. Tie a big bow around a bunch of branches and hang it in place of a familiar print or picture. Use spruce or pine branches in the kitchen, spilling out of market baskets (sprayed white or red), antique tea caddies, or brass teakettles. Put a grapevine basket filled with long-lasting juniper boughs on a raised hearth (well away from any flame). Stick tall lengths of yew in a ceramic umbrella stand in the hall or in a pint-size watering can in the bathroom. Decorate a bedroom with a crystal flower
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