Harevested greenery in waiting

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to begin decorating. At our house the Christmas decorating begins outside around the middle of November. I like to use fresh evergreens and grapevines outdoors. Because I’m rather “thrifty” shall we say, I refuse to purchase evergreen boughs. Instead, I harvest my own.

I start by making note of which evergreens are looking well enough to harvest, and which can be pruned without affecting the appearance and future shape of the evergreen.
 
Using a variety of evergreens provides more depth, texture and interest to an arrangement than using one or two varieties.

Tools needed are: hand pruners, loppers and a pail of water.

Harvest with an eye to shaping the tree and/or shrub rather than cutting willy nilly.
 
A straight cut is made to remove the branch from the plant.

Next cut the stem you’ve just harvested at a sharp angle.

Place the stem of the harvested branch into the pail of water.

Continue harvesting until you have enough materials to make your wreath, swag or planters.

When you do have enough materials, change the water in the pail, and add Christmas tree preservative.

Re-cut each of the stems (angled cut) and put them in the fresh water.

Set the pail in a cool, shaded location (garage or unheated shed) until you are ready to begin creating your decorations.

Suggested evergreens:
 

Boxwood

Cedar

Euonymus (variegated for colour)

Juniper (be sure to get stems with berries on them!)

Spruce

Yew (berries don’t last long on cut stems)

Suggested deciduous:

Redtwig dogwood

Yellow dogwood

Curly willow

Grape vine

Tree branches with interesting shapes

NOTE: do not place these stems in water

 
Accents:
 

Evergreen cones

Rose hips

Teasel

*Hydrangea blooms

*Silver dollar seed casings

NOTE: do not place these in water

* Use only where arrangement will be protected from wind, rain and snow.

Looking for a crafty gift idea? Here an easy craft that you still have time to make.

SCENTED PINE CONES

How delicious and pretty is a basket  of cones, scented with cinnamon, and bedecked with a ribbon or a piece of holly?

If you’ve collected the pine cones yourself, you’ll want to make sure they fully opened and bug free.  Do this by spreading the cones out on a cookie sheet and placing in a 150F oven. When they have opened up, they’re done!

Shake out the seeds and discard.

Using a small brush, paint the pine cones with cinnamon essential oil. The more oil you use of course, the stronger the scent, but try not to go overboard.

Once the oil has dried, place the cones in a basket or mesh bag, add a ribbon or a sprig of fresh greenery and you have a great hostess gift!

As with many of our Christmas traditions, the use of holly as an important celebratory plant began long before the first Christmas, though Christians have adopted and adapted the tradition to make it their own.

The Romans are credited with originating the custom of gifting their friends with holly boughs during the festival of Saturnalia (which coincides with the Christmas season).Rather like us adding a sprig of holly to a prettily wrapped package or the Christmas pudding.

Druids bedecked their homes with holly during the winter to ward off evil spirits. Today, evil spirits are not such a concern but, we carry on the tradition by using holly as a dominant accent during the holiday season.

To incorporate holly into the new Christian religion, a new legend was born; Holly first appeared where Christ walked. The thorny leaves symbolize His suffering and the red berries, His blood.

There once was a time when holly was considered a herb and used medicinally. Because of holly’s dense wood, it was used to make printing blocks, weaving looms and walking sticks.

Those who are fortunate enough to have holly growing in their home landscapes can cut their own sprigs for Holiday decorating. The rest of us must rely on our friendly florists for fresh cut holly.

Caring For Fresh Cut Holly

-          Wear gardening gloves when working with holly. The leaves have very sharp spiney tips that can hurt

-          remove holly from packaging immediately

-          moisten if necessary

-          keep the cut holly in a cool dark place until ready to use (the refrigerator is great for storing holly)

-          holly sprigs may be put in water. Cutting or crushing the bottom of stems will help them absorb water.

-          Prevent holly from freezing

-          Misting the leaves daily will prolong their freshness

-          Treat holly as you would any fresh cut flower

-          Arrange holly in a shallow container filled with water and keep it watered!

-          Holly dries well and can be kept several years. When dry, the leaf colour become softer and the berries darken and shrivel

Down with the rosemary and so,

Down with the bays and mistletoe,

Down with the holly, ivy all

Wherewith ye deck the Christmas Hall

                                    Herrick

Rosemary (rosmarinus)

In the language of flowers and plants, Rosemary is a symbol of remembrance and fidelity.

There are many customs, legends and myths surrounding Rosemary. As Christmas approaches (too quickly), here are a few season relevant ones:

The flowers of the rosemary plant used to be white until during the flight to Egypt, Mary placed her blue cloak over a rosemary shrub. The flowers turned blue overnight and rosemary has bloomed blue ever since.

Yet another legend of Mary and the rosemary plant, says Mary took shelter under a rosemary shrub, hence its Spanish name, Romero or Pilgrim’s Flower.

Then, there is the legend of the height of the rosemary plant. It says the rosemary plant grows as the Saviour grew. After thirty-three years, it will no longer grow taller, but will only grow in width.

An old custom is to gild a rosemary branch, adorn it with colourful ribbons and present it with a clove studded orange as a New Year’s gift.

Lastly, rosemary was often used in place of incense in religious ceremonies.

Over Wintering Rosemary

There is an old saying about rosemary over wintered indoors:

“The house where rosemary grows in winter is ruled by a woman”

Over wintering rosemary indoors is fairly simple.

Rosemary likes to be kept on the dry side of moist. Confused yet? Don’t be. Plant in well draining potting mix and allow the  rosemary slightlydry out between waterings.

Keep humidity levels up by misting the plant daily.

Place in high light, away from cold drafts.

Prune new growth back if it becomes spindly.

Keep insects under control by placing yellow sticky traps around the plant.

Mealy bugs, aphids and white fly are common. If the sticky traps aren’t controlling the insects, wash foliage with plain, lukewarm water, using a gentle spray.

Do not fertilize the plant until late March or early April. Then use at half strength, a balanced fertilizer every two weeks until the outdoor temperatures are warm enough for the plant to move outside for the summer.

Poinsettias, red in particular, are the most favoured to plant to give and receive at Christmas. How and why this Mexican native became so popular is due to a man named Joel R. Poinsett, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in 1828. He was the first one to introduce the showy plant which bears his name, to North America.  Because poinsettias burst into full colour during the Holiday Season, and its bright red bracts resemblance to the Star of Bethlehem, it’s soared to fame as the plant to represent Christmas. In the century and a half since its first appearance on our continent, it has not lost it popularity.

When plant breeders got a hold of the poinsettia, they introduced white, pink, marbled, mottled, burgundy, and every shade of red imaginable. Not content with just offering us a variety of colours, they began playing with the foliage and we now see curly leafed and variegated leafed plants.  If you are not of big fan of red poinsettias, there is now a multitude of colours for you to choose from.

The coloured petals of the poinsettia are not really flowers, but bracts. The flower is actually the tiny yellow centre of the bract.

Poinsettias are very easy to care for. If you don’t have a green thumb or much time to fuss over a plant, then the poinsettia is for you!

-          As soon as you get the plant home, remove the protective sleeve. This prevents damaging ethylene from building up.

-           If you’ve purchased the poinsettias as gifts, but don’t intend on giving them right away, remove the sleeve until just before you deliver them.

- Place the poinsettia in a bright location, away from cold drafts. They deeply resent cold.

- Poinsettias do not like wet feet! Keep the soil on the dry side, but do not allow the plant to wilt. That just shortens its life.

- When to water? When the pot feels light. If the bracts (leaves) are beginning to wilt, you are not watering soon enough.

- Remove the decorative pot cover before you water.

- When you water, drench the pot, being careful not to splash the foliage.

- Fill the pot to the rim with water and allow the water to drain out the bottom of the pot. I usually water them in the kitchen sink to be sure they

  are well drained.

- After ten minutes or so, replace the decorative pot cover and you’re done!

- You should not need to fertilize the poinsettia over the holidays.

When the season is done, toss the poinsettia on the compost pile. If you are up to experimenting, you can attempt to keep the poinsettia over until late spring or early summer. At that point, cut back any weak growth and set it outside for the summer. Bring it indoors in early September, and you’ll be ready to force the poinsettia to show colour for your next Christmas.