One of my friend’s mother hangs her childhood skates with a few carefully chosen boughs and a bow on her front door. It is still the most nostalgic and stylish door decoration I have seen. In the last few years, I've hung dad’s ice skates with boughs and I love it. Another friend is big on trimming boughs for her mantel, real ones, of course, that smell divine. I guess the point is that having a garden and being able to trim bits of holly or evergreen boughs feels like part of the richness of the season and that in itself is simply wonderful.

I transformed my summer planter into a festive urn a couple of Sundays ago in no time at all. I used cypress boughs, berried skimmia, variegated holly and Pieris branches. Many other shrubs work well including euonymus, heavenly bamboo, fir and cedar, coloured twigs and branches like red twigged dogwood, white birch or corkscrew hazelnut are great too.

I love to hear about the things other gardeners like to do to bring their gardens into their Christmas decorating. Whether it is cutting boughs for the mantel, making a wreath for their front doors, a wooden box filled with berries, branches and mason jars with candles, or trimming holly berries to float in a table centrepiece. These trimmings, from the garden, seem to add authenticity to the décor and are a richness that costs you nothing more.

So gather your clippings and your ideas and make your world a little more beautiful!

Shauna Lambeth ©

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