When it comes to decorating for the holiday season, fresh evergreen cuttings are the icing on top of the cake! We cover how to keep them fresh throughout Christmas and all the way into the New Year.
Select Varieties That Keep Longer
In order to preserve long-lasting evergreens, try choosing varieties that stay fresh for longer. These include pine, cedar, and fir. Indoors, these varieties will preserve for just over two to three weeks with proper care. It is possible for them to last much longer outside in cooler climates like Ontario, however!
Quality Goes a Long Way!
We only offer high quality cuttings, which means longer-lasting evergreens for your Christmas wreaths, boughs, swags, and more! Our greenery is cut from trees when they are dormant, which means that the greenery is retaining moisture better than if it’s cut before the tree is dormant for winter. We carry a wide variety of options so that you can create without restriction!
Keep Cuttings in Water Until You’re Ready to Decorate
Cut greens need water to stay fresh, just like Christmas trees and holiday flowers. As soon as they are clipped from trees, they should be placed in a bucket of water to keep fresh until the point of decorating. Be sure to use clean pruners when cutting, and to leave some live foliage behind on the evergreen branch to avoid killing it.
Keep Them Hydrated
Mist evergreen decor with water every two days, or as often as possible, to keep them hydrated and looking fresh. You can also use an anti-desiccant spray that is organic and biodegradable. These hydrating sprays add a shield-like coating around evergreen needles in order to slow down the rate of water loss.
Keep Them Out Of Sun
When it comes to hanging and decorating living evergreens, there is more to it than simply finding the most aesthetic arrangement. Monitoring the heat and sunlight they receive is essential to maintaining their freshness.
For this reason, you’ll want to keep your greens protected by placing them in the most suitable locations, away from south-facing windows and ends of the house. The best option for lighting up your creations are LED lights, as they are cooler and won’t overheat your greens.
Christmas Greenery: What’s Best?
- Pine, hemlock, and cedar are excellent choices for dramatic draping greenery.
- Choosing fir will provide structure. A great option for hanging big decorations on, like mega-sized Christmas ornaments and bows!
- Pine, the classic evergreen, has long needles that are elegant and beautiful. It is commonly used in holiday decorating for table runners and wreaths, because of its classic elegance. It also looks great paired with branches like red twig dogwood and winterberry!
Looking for something more unexpected? Try using eucalyptus, oregonia, or magnolia leaves. To add a touch of something different, mix them in with your traditional evergreen boughs, along with some other natural accents like pinecones or lotus pods. Christmas is almost here! Visit our team at Bala & Port Carling Garden Centres for more information on how to preserve your fresh cuts.
