I love Christmas – the festivities, the trimmings but most of all creating and decorating my little shop and home with botanical-based ornaments foraged from parks, gardens (including my mum’s), and my collection of herbs & spices. Green foliage, branches, twigs, berries, fruit, seeds, bark, buds, pods, gum nuts, cones, and shells not only look and smell naturally beautiful but also meet my eco-friendly values.
image via pinterest
Here are my 8 botanical Christmas decorating ideas that will wow and delight your family and guests.
1. Cinnamon quills bunched and tied with a ribbon. Decorate your table setting by putting one on each plate or tie to tree branches. This is the smell of Christmas.
2. Studded whole oranges with clove buds. A lovely meditative exercise. Leave some of the orange skin exposed for a show of colour. Pin a ribbon and hang on your tree or fill a bowl and place on your Christmas table.
3. Fresh green bay leaf branches cut and gathered in a vase, makes a dramatic centrepiece on a table or decorate as your would a Christmas tree. The leaves will naturally dry, and the smell of bay will fill your home.
4. Collect large twigs or branches and arrange in a sturdy container. Wrap your container with hessian or any natural material and then tie with ribbon. Decorate the twigs and branches with your natural Christmas ornaments.
5. Create fresh rosemary wreaths. If you are lucky enough to have an old rosemary bush in your garden, you may find large stalks. Tie the wreath together in a circle with some ribbon. This will make a large wreath for your front door. Alternatively small rosemary branches make sweet, little wreaths for ornaments or decorate your table setting by putting one on each plate.
6. Bowls of dried herbs & spices arranged down the centre of your table. Star anise, cinnamon quills, clove buds, cardamom pods, juniper berries and rosehips look festive and will retain their smell. Simply stir through every few days to release the aromatic essential oils.
7. For a beachy themed Christmas, fill an assortment of jars with shells and place candles in the centre of the jars. For a shell ornament, super glue small shells over old tennis balls. Make sure to glue a ribbon and hang on your tree or place in bowls.
8. Gum nuts, cones and pods can easily turn into ornaments by simply gluing a ribbon to hang on your trees.
Let your imagination run wild. Begin by foraging your local parks for botanical trimmings to adorn your home. You never know what you will find. That’s half the fun!
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