One of the joys of Christmas comes from the decorations we put up in our homes to celebrate this happy season. Most of all, plants, whether alive or dried, offer fascinating possibilities. Especially interesting variations may be had by combining Christmas accessories with house plants and cut plant material from gardens, woods and fields, and florist shops.
Few of us think of using the house plants we have with other materials for decorative purposes. Yet the idea is a practical one, and whether your collection of house plants is confined to one window or a much larger area, that is where the Christmas indoor decorating can begin.
First of all, it is neither wise nor necessary to move your house plants elsewhere. Rather work with them where they are, since they provide a basic green background. Out-of-doors, evergreens, and other cut material may be used for the Yuletide door and the front gate, if there is one. When weather permits, flowering potted plants, such as poinsettias, azaleas, and cyclamen, may be placed out of doors for the occasion.
Arrange To Attract Attention
On my front gate, I use an arrangement that always attracts attention. In a white straw basket, with a metal insert, I place leucothoe and yew branches to form the basic green design. To this, I add golden sheaves of wheat and pinkish California pepper berries. Although simple, the color and texture of the wheat and berries against the greens give the gate a festive touch.
At the front door, the pink of the pepper berries is repeated in a large pink poinsettia and a pink azalea, placed outside for the holidays. Of course, red or white poinsettias are also attractive and may be used to complement your particular wreath or other door decoration. However, I want to stress that these plants are not placed by themselves, but are used in front of Japanese Pieris, which form the green background that sets off the colorful flowers.
Indoor Christmas Decoration
The indoor Christmas decoration nearest my front door is on the top of an old wooden blanket chest in the front hall. A copper tray, with a two-inch edging, serves as a container for the various pots. Delicate ferns, philodendrons, and parsley ivy are grown here year round, while large red poinsettias are added at Christmas time to cover the bare wall areas.
In front of a figure, I keep a small copper fountain during the winter, which for the holiday season I encircle with kalanchoes. Above the figure, I hang a tiny pine wreath, with a typical red bow, while in the small square window above I place three candle choir boys amidst long needle pine branches. In this way, I create a holiday feel by merely adding a few Christmas plants and standard accessories to my year-round plant area.
Old red tiles, which form the deep windowsill in my kitchen, also provide a perfect setting for house plants throughout the year. Set in two large straw baskets, rex begonias, episcias, Baltic ivy, and philodendrons flourish in this northern exposure. Suspended in the center of the casement window is an open straw bird cage, which I fill with flowers and greens, according to the season. During the holidays, I used forced paperwhite narcissus and white pine branches.
Red, White, and Green Christmas Combination
On the tiles below, kalanchoes add red to the traditional red, white, and green Christmas combination. Yet this seasonal atmosphere is attained again by adding a few colorful plants to the green plants already on the windowsill.
At night, the window is lighted with holiday lights and the plants take on a warm and gay aspect in front of the frosty lighted panes.
The iron base of an antique sewing machine, topped with a copper tray, holds the various house plants in my bedroom. In this southwest, Robinhood begonias, marguerites, fuchsias, and geraniums are exposed.
The last two are brought in from the garden for the winter. Here again, pink poinsettias are added to the existing greenery, which is easily dressed up for the Christmas season.
Decorating your home for Christmas may well involve more than the simple suggestions which I have mentioned here. Various dried and dyed materials can be used in a multitude of ways, along With the standard ribbons, candles, and figures.
Yet it takes a few Christmas pot plants – poinsettias, kalanchoes, azaleas, cyclamen, Christmas begonias, Christmas cactus, and others—to add that special touch to this feast of holiday seasons. And remember that indoors or out, green provides the ideal background around which to work.
Poinsettias and kalanchoes are combined with the ferns, philodendrons, and parsley ivies that occupy a year-round place on the blanket chest in the front hall of the writer’s home.
44659 by Helen B. Wilson