Deck the Halls With Foraged Christmas Arrangements

Everyone is decking the halls, by cutting boughs of greens from their property and using them for decorating. Foraging is the trendy way of describing the time honored tradition of using what you already have.

Trimming my blue spruce for branches and winterberries from my trees to come up with a simple arrangement
An old crate from my garage was put to use. The large leaves are fatsia from my garden
In the fall, I browse old privet hedgerows for the blue black berries: This bunch cost $20 at a high end nursery down the road!

When spruce cones start to form on trees, I venture out with my long reach pruners and snip them off for fabulous accents on containers.

Drape spruce cones still attached to branches in window boxes and other containers

Tag Alder, Alnus serrulata, catkins and small cones are great in winter arrangements
Winter Berry, Ilex verticilatta, persists for most of the winter

Pointers for plant foraging:

  • Identify – Learn to identify what you are collecting as you don’t want to pick anything poisonous or on the endangered/threatened list. Wear long pants and closed toe shoes to protect against ticks and poison ivy. 
I am extremely allergic to poison ivy and I can identify it from a mile away!
  • Poison Ivy – If you don’t know what poison ivy looks like, just google images of this lethal plant before venturing forth. Also, after the leaves have fallen off poison ivy, I would beware of any vine that you can’t identify. Poison ivy has white berries that birds relish through the winter, so beware of any white or grayish berries.
  • Protection – If collecting by roadsides, wear protective gloves. Do not park or stop on the side of a highway.  I try to find smaller rural roads to do my collecting. Always put safety first and park only where safely off the road.
  • Be Respectful – Follow the principles of “Leave no trace” and leave your collecting area the same or better than when you entered it. Don’t strip it clean! And don’t dig up roots.
  • Research – Do your research and don’t collect from the threatened or endangered plant list. Go to the USDA website at https://plants.usda.gov/threat.html for a state by state list. In my home state of Maryland, I don’t collect things like partridge berry, wild orchids, or ground pine, as many of these are on the endangered list. If in the Pacific Northwest, forage for Salal, an excellent broad leaved evergreen.
  • Foraging Kit – Armed with bug spray, pruners, scissors and collecting buckets and bags, I troll the sides of the roads for likely prospects and always have a “foraging kit”  in the back of my car.
My bucket of tools in the back of my car
I plunge all my cuts into a trug full of water

 

Adding grass plumes to this foraged wreath adds a lot of texture
  • Hydrate – When you get your treasures home, strip all the lower leaves/needles off and plunge into water filled buckets/trugs in a cool spot for several hours at a minimum.  I add some packaged flower sachets to the water.  Conditioning your fresh cuts in this way will greatly prolong the life of your foliage. Keep them outside in the cooler weather. I keep them in a covered carport/garage out of the sun.
  • Be Creative – Dried seed heads and berries are great for arrangements. Also interesting twigs, lichens, and, pods are excellent.
  • Ask! – Always ask permission if on private property.
Tiny rose hips from multi flora roses
Foraged wild ivy
Gathering lichen covered branches
Large window boxes with foraged materials

Putting It All Together

There are huge differences between a florist arrangement and a foraged one. Foraged ones are usually a bit wilder looking and have things you would never encounter at a florist, like dock, seed heads, and pine cones.  I much prefer the wild foraged arrangements to the run of the mill florist arrangement and it doesn’t cost you a dime.

Everything is from my yard or surroundings; The sorghum is sprayed white
I covered this wooden bird house with foraged materials in the fall. The corn cobs were left over from farm fields and laying on the road. By spring, the squirrels had chewed it up.

 

 

6 Replies to “Deck the Halls With Foraged Christmas Arrangements”

  1. The problem with berry bushes with red berries is that usually the berries are toxic to cats and dogs and the seeds are poisonous. You also have to purchase a male and a female bush. Buying artificial sprigs in the store is sounding better all the time.

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