Botanical decorations

I confess, it is the 21st December and I am only just getting round to decorating the house. Today, I put the milk on to simmer with nutmeg and cloves, put a pot of red cabbage in the bottom over (the absolute key to getting ahead with Christmas prep is multi-tasking) and got started on the house.

In case you think I am at all organised with the festivities, I should tell you that I have not sent a single card this year, and our party of ten at the Christmas table all seem to think someone else is bringing the champagne.

However, the decorations being up mean that we are a step towards feeling the tingle of anticipation. I am one of those people that prefers Christmas Eve than Christmas Day – it’s all about the build up. But it’s also all about the sustainable, the foraged, the natural, the botanical.

With a sprinkling of copper wire fairy lights. Or candles.

Here are my top tips.

Use what you have

An old creativity trick - give yourself some boundaries and it’s amazing what you can do. This year, it was all about what it in the hedgerow, or left standing in the garden. I chopped down every single stick of asparagus to add a touch of golden to the outdoor cloud, but sadly, it was too far gone and simply looked tatty. So it was all beech and the puff and sparkle of the asters, with little touches of the ubiquitous bronze fennel and as many teasels as I could fit in.

 Up the scale. Lower the number of materials.

For big drama with low stress, go big, but go simple. I have steel bases which I made by pulling mild steel rods around the biggest pot I could find. I get them out every year, and add a single variety. A few years ago I styled an old vicarage for House and Garden (I am still smarting that I wasn’t credited, so I use the pictures every year) and added golden oak leaves. Almost all the way round, but not quite, so the rusty metal was part of the look. (It’s in the window.)

The year before that, ivy.

This year, old man’s beard. Rendered very much non-organic by the addition of a can of hairspray. Honestly, took ten minutes.

Froth & dangle

There is a lot to be said for a big installation of natural material, and then the addition of some vintage glass baubles, some old, childhood decorations fished out from the attic, or indeed, some paper stars.

I was going to add these to my inglenook decoration of old man’s beard, but Naomi beat me to it and tied bows all over it.

Indeed, I am so looking forward to finally finishing work tomorrow and having a go at some of Eva Nemeth’s paper stars. If you would like to join me, her instructions are here.

Last but not least

Take pot luck

I have agonised over a tree this year. I haven’t had one since I was a child, and the parlour is crying out for a big statement piece. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. The chopping down of a tree is a serious thing, and not something I can take lightly or frivolously.

But why such sentiment about a tree and not the branches and boughs I have hacked back? Because I can justify it as pruning. However, for truly cruelty free decorating, can I suggest you bring some pots indoors?

I have had great success with urns and pots planted with Christmas roses (grow them on under cover - I find the white ones always mark in the rain outdoors) but also filling small, vintage terracotta pots with ivy and using them to cascade down a bookshelf.

Like tinsel, but green…