In my opinion, there are some greens which are better than others, but what really makes a wreath absolutely beautiful is using a “mix” of fresh greenery in the holiday wreaths.
When I first started working with fresh greens, I had no clue how to prep them, what they required to store well prior to creating wreaths, and which would be best to use.
Fresh greens will dry out thus getting them too early is not a good idea, so the timing is key. Like almost anything in the horticulture world, your items are perishable. I always waited until right after the Thanksgiving holiday to pick up my green’s orders to start making custom wreaths.
In order to reduce the loss of needles or drying out the greens, they must be stored in cold temperatures in boxes or some in plastic. Some of the boxes should be lined with plastic, while others are stored in boxes coated with wax inside. In general, all greens of all types gathered for holiday wreath making should not be exposed to winds, harsh sun, or even cold cement floors, which can draw out moisture. Some kinds may be laid out on tables, but key is storing them in cold and dark inside locations until ready for use.
Some greens, if a bit dry, may be rehydrated by cutting stems and setting them in vases or buckets of water, or even dunked in buckets of water, but some should not be treated that way. Others I would sometimes rinse with water from my hose outside in wagons, or let the snow fall on them in my driveway as they sat in wagons for a bit of moisture exposure, but then other types of greens should not get wet. If stored wet, they can turn yellow or rot. It depends on the type of greenery.
Learning how to handle the greens and which looked best and worked well in wreath making was something I learned by researching, experiencing, and testing various greens from balsam fir to berried juniper. I always took notes each year on how well the greens held up and would notice which performed better than others.
In this post, I want to share some tips with you on how to best prepare and use various greens in your wreaths. I will go over 15 different types in a series of posts. As I mentioned, I loved using a wide mix of greens to have full, fully, and textured creations. The contrasts of greens and various textures made the wreaths absolutely beautiful.
Let’s begin!
Holly
Evergreen holly is no doubt one of the type of greens people love in their holiday decorations. Their attached bright red berries stand out and they are the essence of Christmas memories. However, one downfall of holly is that it will turn black if wet and hit by frost or freeze. And handling them repeatedly when making wreaths can be painful due to the spiny edges of their leaves. However, holly is easy to insert into wreaths, sturdy, and provides a nice deep green with the red berries to the wreath with the mix of other tones of green colors, but holly is not super full or fully. That is fine, but just something to note about using holly. If it doesn’t get wet and frozen, it will last a very long time in a wreath until it kind of dries out. When they do dry out, however, they still retain the leaves on their sturdy stems for a long while.
Holly bushes, (Genus Ilex), are simple evergreen plants with dark green leaves and there are many cultivars available in our part of Connecticut to plant into your landscape. Many people have evergreen holly shrubs or trees readily available to prune from for their Christmas decorating from their own yards or landscape beds. But take note, these shrubs can suffer in the landscape from winter dry out from winds or water-loss when the ground is frozen, but otherwise, they are relatively easy to grow, taking part-shade or sun locations. And they can get rather large over the years too.
Every year, two of my friends offered to come take cuttings of their holly shrubs for my wreath making but I also ordered holly from a supplier too. I have a neighbor who generously offered her big, huge holly shrub to take from. It was gigantic. I’d quietly walk over with my wagon and pruners to take cuttings. It was always a type of annual pre-holiday ritual.
Her yard has lovely plants in her various gardens, and it was nice to take long holly stems with red berries and load them into my wagon. I was sure to do this only about 3-4 days before my wreath making workshops to have the best freshness. Sometimes, I would see a praying mantis case attached to a branch and leave that one be. Her holly shrub got rather large over the years where the top was not reachable without a ladder, so I never was able to get that high to cut them. I always methodically thought about taking cuttings to improve the outer shape and form of the plant. It was generous of her to offer cuttings.
My brother also offered to stop by his holly bushes one year to take cuttings for my workshops. He has a rather large expansive open back yard. The sun was shining on me that day when I went as it was a beautiful blue sky cold day. His holly shrubs are on a little slope. I sat on the ground taking cuttings. No one was home and it was a quiet, brisk, and sunny with a slightly cool air about. I remember thinking how wonderful his property was. Serene, quiet and peaceful. After I was done getting cuttings from his hollies, I laid on the ground next to the shrubs on the slope and faced the sun and sky above and felt the sun’s warmth on my face. There was something magical about my harvesting adventures.
Pruning evergreen hollies in the fall or winter however is really not the best time to do so. It should be pruned in the early summer for your typical landscape maintenance routines. Pruning them in winter exposes the stem’s ends to cool temperatures but only taking a limited amount in the winter didn’t detrimentally impact the shrubs. In fact, if my own hollies in my yard get out of shape, I wait to take top cuttings before the holiday wreath making process for my wreaths, or to gather to put in vases as holiday decoration.
If you decide to plant some evergreen hollies in your landscape, be aware that “some” types of holly plants require a male and female plant to set the beautiful red berries. If you decide to plant one for the first time, inquire about this at your local nursery. Female hollies produce the red berries and I believe you probably need only one male holly shrub to achieve success. Another consideration is pets, as some say the red berries are toxic to pets. I never had this issue here cause my adorable cat does not touch my plants but be aware holly berries can fall off and even leave a red mark on your hardwood floors if they get squished when you happen to step on one.
As I noted, the only downfall to holly is the leaves can turn totally black if wet and hit by frost. So, when you store them in a box with plastic, be sure you are not storing them wet. Freshly cut, when possible is best too, so you reduce the time is no longer attached to a shrub or tree and starts to lose some moisture. And storing them in plastic enclosed in a box is best done when the holly is cold. Loosely store them in the plastic too. They do not have to be tightly packed, but always in a cold room. An unheated garage is perfect.
In my workshops, I referred to holly as a specialty green to use in our wreath making – one to use as an accent in your creations. One year, I obtained a variegated type of holly with green and white leaf margins from a supplier, it was amazing, and I just loved it. It was so beautiful. It provided a more professional look to the wreaths, and it also felt and looked luxurious, at least I thought so. However, it was fairly pricy and not always readily available from the supplier, so if you decide to plant a shrub, consider the variegated types as well.
One last thought, I have read that holly is ethylene sensitive. If exposed to ethylene, the leaves and fruit will fall off. I never had to worry about that much. Ethylene is produced from some types of ripening fruit so businesses storing fruit or ripening produce with plants must be aware of this sensitivity. If you are running a business and holding holly with other plants or fruits, there are products out there to treat plants for this. I remember a grower talking about this when we went on a field trip during my college days. We walked into a huge freezer or maybe it was a fridge and he talked about the concern of ethylene. People in the floral industry are also those who are probably ethylene experts but for homeowner harvesting plants for wreath making it is most likely not an issue to worry about.
Overall, I did not have issues with harvesting, prepping it, or keeping any type of evergreen holly cuttings and stems fresh for my holiday making workshops. It was a bit pricier though and since we used it only as an accent, I started to remove it from my list of the 15-20 types of greens I would obtain. Often times, workshop attendees brought a little of supply of their own holly cuttings to use. Fortunately, as mentioned above, it is an easy type of evergreen shrub to obtain from our local nurseries. Sometimes I wish I had the forethought to plant all the types of plants used in wreaths in a big field and we could have a harvest party for the holidays! I have quite the imagination.
Stay tuned for the next post on the next greenery on the holiday list!
Thank you for visiting.
Cathy Testa
Located in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor, CT
Container Crazy CT 