Christmas decoration ideas from the garden
Hinterland Homesteading
with Racheal Pascoe
We just love homemade and homegrown goodies at our place! This includes Christmas décor. Homemade items take time though, so it’s important to make a plan soon, so you are not rushed. You’ll need time to collect what you need. Think about your style. What do you like at your place?
Our style is a bit ‘vintage’, I guess. Not because vintage is trendy, but because we can’t bare to part with our old daggy stuff! Ha. Our Christmas tree is 25 years old and is a visual feast (eyesore) each year! Ha. The decorations are all different colours, we need a few new pieces of fresh tinsel really, but we just love our style. When we are putting the tree up each year, it is a walk down memory lane as we re-discover the ornaments and hang them on the tree. Never once have I felt the need to toss our tree out and get a new one that has only one colour decorations on it. I see this in the shops and it can stay there! Our Christmas tree is part of our family story and we all enjoy it so much each year.
Christmas wreath
I see the videos showing people making beautiful wreaths out of willow they have grown themselves. Dreamy. I don’t have any willow growing, but I have an ever-giving petrea vine which needed a haircut. Same thing? Not really, but the long tendrils of the petrea made a fairly good substitute. I just started shaping one into a ring and then kept adding to it. I tucked the ends in tightly and have decorated it. Maybe you have a vine that needs trimming and you could use the off cuts for a wreath? NB: I did find with the petrea vine that I needed to use the cuttings within a couple of days, otherwise they went too dry to bend without breakages.
Pinecone fun
If you can get your hands on a few pinecones, you can certainly whip up something cute. This would be a fun one to do with the kids in December when they have finished school. With sharp secateurs, cut pinecones into slices, making flowers with petals you can paint. A full pinecone can be used to hold up a name place card or a bowl of spraypainted cones is a simple and cost-effective way for a table centrepiece. White spray paint on pinecones makes them look wintery like it’s snowed. When it’s no doubt over 30 degrees celsius for our Christmas Day, you can have a little northern hemisphere feel on your table.
Christmas star
Sticks and string are all you really need to make a very cool, handmade looking star! Cut 6 sticks to the same length using secateurs. Lay 2 triangles out and secure them with string. Then place one triangle on top of the other to complete the star. A little gold or silver spray paint will make it really look Christmassy. Make a BIG star to hang on the front of the house, or tiny stars could be used as name place holders at Christmas dinner. A set of solar fairy lights would be wonderful on the star on the front of the house!
What ideas have you got for Christmas decorations at your place this year? I love the challenge of thinking of fresh new ideas and also using different items to make it all come together.
Happy Christmas Homesteading everyone!