Decorating with Fresh Greenery for the Holidays

Outdoor greenery:

This is my first Christmas in my new home, so I have been very excited to decorate for the holidays! For decorating, I have been using a mix of artificial and fresh greens. My tree is a flocked artificial tree from Hobby Lobby that I absolutely love! (See it in this post. It’s currently 50% off!). I was on the hunt this week for some fresh greens to finish out my decor, and headed to Abide A While, which is my favorite local garden center in Charleston. I could truly spend hours there – they have a beautiful nursery, and a boutique with so many special and unique finds! I purchased many of my plants here over the past year – it’s hard to visit without leaving with something!

They have so many beautiful holiday items and greenery, like fresh wreaths, garland, and poinsettias. I ended up purchasing a cedar garland specifically for my front door. It ended up being a bit too heavy for the entry, so I trimmed it and used the remaining strands for my stair rail! I added a few velvet bows to the stair rail, and couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out! In full disclosure, this required several trips to Home Depot, as I realized mid-way through that I didn’t have everything I need to make this project work! Here are a few things I learned in the process:

• For the front entry garland:
  • I used five of these 7.5 lb command hooks to install the garland above the door. This was challenging as I had a few hooks that would not support the garland, which is why I trimmed it. (I wasn’t ready to put holes into my siding with nails yet, so the command hooks should hopefully do the trick – fingers crossed!) I also think this door hanger would work well for hanging garland above a front door.
  • The team at Abide A While recommended purchasing Wilt Stop spray to help preserve and keep the garland from drying out. Spraying it on before installing was recommended.
• For the indoor garland:
  • I used zip ties to secure the garland swags. If you save extra clippings of the greenery, you can hide the zip ties with a bit of floral wire. I used ribbon to hide the zips ties as I didn’t have any extra clippings!

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