In The Garden
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | COUNTY DURHAM | | |
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Bring winter plants indoors to make a festive display
IT MAY be bleak outside, but
you can create a festive atmosphere
indoors from clippings
of evergreens and berries from
your garden.
Wreaths can be made using a wire
or willow frame from a garden
centre, sphagnum moss to cover
it, florist's wire and various garden
trimmings. A wire frame should
have an outer and inner ring to
pack the moss between them,
wrapping green wire around the
frame, looping it and tightening
accordingly, to make the base for
foliage.
Holly is perfect as the main canvas
to your wreath, especially if it has
berries. Only female plants bear
berries, but other good varieties
for colourful foliage include Ilex x
altaclerensis Golden King, whose
leaves have a burst of yellow and
are thornless, which helps when
making the display.
Hedera helix, traditional English
ivy, is widely grown and a good
choice for a wreath or table decoration.
Also good is Persian ivy,
Hedera colchica Sulphur Heart,
with its large, variegated leaves.
For the past couple of years, I have
made my festive wreath using
clippings from conifers or taking a
little off the Christmas tree, which
is nearly always too bushy for the
space available. If using sprigs
from your Christmas tree, make
up the wreath by inserting them
underneath the wire used to secure
the moss. Have them facing
in one direction if you don't want
the wreath to be too wide.
Once the backdrop is complete,
add other variegated foliage at
strategic points (but not too many
variations of plant or it will make
the finished result look messy)
and complete the wreath with
berries, which should be clumped
at even intervals around the
wreath and secured with florist's
wire.
I like adding pine cones, dried
fruits and cinnamon sticks for a
natural look, though if you want a
bit of dazzle, you could add a bow
of coloured ribbon or baubles.
The front door is not the only
place to show off a bright display
of garden cuttings. Evergreen
sprigs in plain vases brighten a
room and last a long time indoors.
Long stems of coloured bark looks
effective in tall vases with a few
Christmas lights around them.
Cut twigs and pink flowers from
Viburnum tinus Eva Price and put
them in a vase with snippings
from a variegated shrub such as
Pittosporum tenuifolium Silver
Queen, and you have a festive
match.
Dried fruit makes pretty decorations.
Take slices of orange, place
on a cooling rack in a very low
oven or airing cupboard until they
are completely dry. Red chillies
add colour to tree or table decoration
and should last a couple of
weeks, provided they are not
bruised when you buy them. Hang out of the reach of children who
may be tempted to put it in their
mouths.
Other flowers that can be widely
used in decorations include
echinops (globe thistle) or eryngium
(sea holly), while seedheads
of nigella (love-in-a-mist) add colour and texture.
Jobs this week
❃ Prune tall rose bushes by half to
prevent windrock.
❃ Bring forced bulbs such as prepared
hyacinths and daffodils into
a warm room.
1:29pm Friday 21st December 2007
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