December 26, 2016 – Christmas Greens

          I love to “deck the halls” as one might say at Christmas time.  I always make an arrangement or two for my home from the assorted evergreens that grow in my garden.

          And, I typically make a few Christmas arrangement for dear friends as well. 

          Arranging flowers or greens for me is like breathing – it comes naturally.  You can easily learn it too.

          Over the years I have perfected the art and will share some tips with you.

1.   In the fall, when you are trimming your evergreen shrubs the final time for the season, leave a little bit of extra growth that you can clip off for your Christmas arrangement project.

2.   Locate inexpensive containers.  In the fall I prowl the assorted dollar stores in the area and pick up a half dozen low bowls that can hold at least 1 ½ inches of water.  Usually the diameter of a saucer.

3.   Be sure to always have on hand some Floral Wet foam bricks.  You can pick them up at Walmart usually. [Buy early, they seem to disappear in the stores at wedding time and at Christmas time.]

4.   Floral tape – the 1/4^th inch wide green floral tape that holds the wet foam bricks securely in the container.  One roll will last a long time.

5.   Purchase some inexpensive artificial red berries if you don’t happen to have Nandina or holly bushes that have natural red berries.

6.   The library usually has ample books on floral arranging.  Give several books a quick once over for ideas as well as the basic techniques.  The internet is full of ideas as well.

You can cut greens and carry them inside, but I find it much more efficient [and LESS of a mess] to take the arrangement container outside and arrange in situ.  I have a covered rolling garbage can that makes a wonderful impromptu platform that is slightly above waist high.  I can drag it anywhere in the yard.  This way I don’t cut any more stems than I actually need.

Armed with sharp clippers and good gloves I pick out a minimum of 5 types of greens that I am going to use.  

I take 6 to 8 inch cuttings – about 8 or 12 of each type at each different shrub.  Working with one type – holly for instance, I peel off about 1 ½ inches of foliage from the bottom of the stem, make certain the stem or wood is cut on an angle and insert the first round of cuttings around the base of the foam at container level in a horizontal angle.  I add 3 or 4 tips of the same foliage at the top level. 

I go to the next evergreen shrub and add another 12 or so cuttings. These are more angled up. I do this in an alternating way.  Take into account the smooth and green, soft and fluffy, silver grey versus a yellow green types of foliage as you arrange. 

The beauty of Christmas green arrangements is the different colors and textures of the various evergreens.

You simply turn the arrangement as you work and eventually when you get to the last few shrubs you are filling in any places where you can see the floral foam.  Some pieces should be shorter, some longer in order to get a wispy effect.

Your final touches would be a few wisps of eucalyptus or some Holly or Nandina berries for drama.  Or you can add pine cones on wires, a big bow, or inexpensive artificial berries.  Don’t overdo the final touches, sometimes 3 or 5 are enough – they are simply to draw the eye.

Evergreen shrubs that are good for this include:

Blue spruce

Boxwood

Cedar

Eucalyptus

Fraser fir

Holly

Juniper

Magnolia

Nandina

Pine

Yew

Don’t forget, at most fresh Christmas tree places during the season you can pick up some free lower limbs.  Also, some grocery stores have bundles of greens available to purchase if you don’t happen to have ample material from your garden.

This year when I gave a close friend an arrangement she admired she said something that made me ponder a bit. 

“You’ve missed your calling.”

Now that I’ve thought about it a day or two, I think, ‘possibly I have’.