Evergreen Arrangements

The holidays are right around the corner, and all of us have some sort of family function or holiday party planned at our homes. You always want your home and your front porch to look welcoming as guests arrive, but what can you do other than the same old Christmas lights? It’s too late to do much planting, and who would want to? Brrrr…. But, you can create long-lasting outdoor arrangements for your entryway that are beautiful and inviting. The best part of creating these arrangements is that you can use things that you already have in your yard, or that you can purchase inexpensively at your local garden center.

What You Need:

Branches – evergreen and/or leaf-bare branches (I love red twig dogwood) will work.

Container – anything you won’t worry about outside – ceramic, peat pots, zinc, clay, etc.

Decorations – large or small pinecones, berry branches, ribbons – whatever will go best with the rest of your holiday décor.

Styrofoam – a few large sheets that you can break to sizes that will fit in your container.

Floral tape – a dark green will work well to hold the Styrofoam in the container.

Floral knife or pruners.

Optional Supplies:

Spray paint – to paint branches or pinecones
Silk flowers
Christmas ornaments – Get creative!

The Steps:

Gather your materials. Think about how many containers you have (or want to use), then make sure you have enough materials to fill them.

Fill your container with Styrofoam. If you container is very deep, consider filling the bottom with rocks (for weight), newspaper, or another material you have around.

Tape the Styrofoam down. Use 3 or 4 pieces of tape to go all the way across the mouth of the container in both directions.

Start building. Using the branches in Styrofoam is similar to making a floral arrangement in Oasis. You can easily just press the stems into the foam, and it will where you place it.

Use large evergreen branches first. This is to create the shape, then use the more unique and smaller branches to create interest.

Get creative. Once the container is looking as full as you would like, start adding decorations and painted branches. Be creative, use what you have. Tuck pinecones under branches, remember to think of gravity when creating your arrangement. Your finished product should look natural, so go easy on any silk or fake flowers you are using.

That’s it. A very simple project, you can even include the kids.

The really wonderful part of the project is these arrangements need no water or care. It is so cool out this time of year that the branches are preserved. Even if you create arrangements now, you should expect them to hold out well beyond the holidays.

Happy decorating!