Without a doubt, decking out your home in fresh greenery is one of the best parts of Christmas; the sight and smell of fresh evergreen boughs make any space feel instantly cozier and more festive! Here are some tips to help you extend the life of your fresh-cut holiday greens and keep them looking their best all season:
Maintain Year-Round Care
This first tip may seem pretty obvious, but caring for the evergreen trees in your landscape all year round, will go a long way towards keeping their boughs as beautiful and showy as ever by the time the holidays roll around. Monitor your evergreens closely throughout the year to make sure they get the watering, pruning, and general attention they need.
Use Hardy Varieties
Fir, cedar, and pine are the evergreen varieties that will give you the longest-lasting decor this holiday season. Their hardiness means they're easier to maintain and will stay fresher for longer than other evergreen variants.
Mist Your Cuttings with Water
It's important to mist the needles of any greens not in soil to keep them looking fresh. In the same way that Christmas trees need regular watering to stay fresh, so does cut fresh greenery. Keep your cuttings in a bucket of water until you're ready to decorate with them. After that, early-morning mistings once a week are recommended to let your boughs draw in moisture during the day's heat, but remember to use room-temperature water to avoid shocking your greens!
Apply an Anti-Desiccant Spray
If you plan on including holiday ornaments and other accessories in your evergreen arrangement, misting may not be possible. In these cases, an anti-desiccant spray is a perfect solution. By acting as a protective coating, anti-desiccant sprays help your fresh greens retain moisture, keeping your evergreen garlands, boughs, and swags looking gorgeous well into the New Year.
Protect Them from the Sun
While evergreens thrive outdoors in the spring and summer sunlight, they are at extreme risk of burning in the winter sun. Your fresh evergreens will thrive with 5-6 hours of partial, indirect sunlight a day, but make sure they get it in a shade-protected area to prevent their leaves from scorching and turning brown.
Keep Them Protected From Heat
Avoid placing your fresh-cut arrangements near fireplaces, candles, and other heat sources to protect against burning. If you'll be decorating your arrangements, remember that LED lights are cooler than conventional bulbs, so they can be used with evergreens to add beautiful light to your holiday greenery while keeping it temperature-controlled and protected from heat.
Store Them Outdoors
Your evergreens will last much longer outdoors than they will inside your home. Outdoors, fresh-cut greens can last up to five to six weeks, compared to two to three weeks indoors. Therefore, it's best to keep them outside until just a week before you plan on decorating with them, ensuring they're still fresh by the time your holiday guests arrive!
Place Your Centerpieces in Water
For table centerpieces featuring fresh-cut greens, display them in a cute plant container or vase filled with water to help maintain their freshness. Greenery kept in vases can last up to six weeks or more, meaning your gorgeous centerpiece will keep for the entire month of December and beyond! Vases are also easy to move around, so you can enjoy your fresh cuts wherever you like.
Are you looking to buy fresh-cut greenery for your home? Lehigh Valley Home and Garden in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has everything you'll need to get into the Christmas spirit with fresh-cut greens and more. Come by and talk to our gardening experts today!