Create an enchanting and memorable look this holiday by bringing fresh greenery like garlands, wreaths, centerpieces, and living plants right inside your home!
There is so much you can do to make your home feel special for the holiday season. From selecting the perfect Christmas tree to baking your family’s favorite treats, to crafting a custom centerpiece for your table, this is the time to focus your efforts on the magic that only you can create inside your home. And what better way to manifest your creativity than with real, fragrant decorations like fir branches, cedar boughs, sprays of berries and so much more.
We love the way that natural elements work together to create holiday décor that feels interesting, grounded, and incredibly memorable. And let’s face it, even the best faux branches and decorations just can’t compete with the warmth and nostalgia that real greenery evokes. By decorating with real greenery you can make your home feel cozier, classier, and even wilder depending on what you use and how you style it.
In this blog, we’ll cover some ways to style natural elements to fit any aesthetic, go through the 7 best ways to use greenery as décor, give an overview of the natural elements you can use, and cover how to keep your greenery fresh indoors.
The 7 Best Ways to Use Greenery as Holiday Décor
1. Use cedar garland for mantles, windows, railings, and more.
Cedar garland is sold in rolls or by the foot, making it an effective and easy way to add drama and grandeur to your indoor or outdoor displays.
- Drape a garland across the top of your mantle for a quick, fragrant companion to your stockings.
- Hang it up high across curtain rods, leaving it straight or in exaggerated curves with long tails depending on your aesthetic.
- Wind garland around stair railings and bannisters for a look straight out of a Christmas movie.
- Add Christmas lights to your garland in any location to make it even more charming.
You can keep your garland green and simple or fill it with additional natural elements that you forage or gather, but we always recommend you dress your garland up with lots of ribbons to match the rest of your décor. And don’t forget that you can hang non-breakable ornaments from garland secured above doorways and windows for even more impact!
What you’ll need: Sharp secateurs or pruning shears to cut the garland to your desired length, nails or command hooks to secure garland in place, and bows, baubles, and ornaments to round out the look.
2. Create DIY centerpieces and swags with evergreens and decorative branches.
Nothing captures the spirit of a holiday party you’re hosting like a centerpiece on your table. Making your own holiday centerpiece with fresh greenery is an opportunity to really wow your guests and let your creativity shine, so when it comes to this arrangement, don’t hold back!
One of our favorite ways to create a centerpiece is by purchasing a premade basic green centerpiece at the garden center and then gussying it up to match your aesthetic. With a secure foundation in place you can safely try your hand at a DIY approach to holiday decorating, using branches, twigs, cones, bows, baubles, and anything else that appeals to you… the sky is the limit!
If you want to start from scratch, you can also use a vase, watertight pot, or low bowl for your centerpieces. Fill it with water and sand or soil to keep it from tipping and then cut your branches as you insert them into the vessel.
And don’t think that your “centerpiece” has to be limited to your table—by applying the same approach to a simple green swag you can create something free-hanging and totally unique for placing on your mantle, on a door, or on a blank wall in your home!
What you’ll need: Sharp secateurs or pruning shears to cut the natural elements to size, wire to hold loose bits in place, a bow or berry branch for color, and a shiny or glittery ornament to reflect candle light.
3. DIY a wreath or customize a bought wreath to hang inside and outside.
An evergreen wreath on the front door is the quintessential way to welcome guests to your home for the holidays, and it’s the perfect opportunity to set the stage for the rest of your holiday style.
- Traditionalists can opt for a classic mixed wreath complete with a rich red bow.
- Minimal, modernist homes will love the textural look of fragrant Juniper and Cedar branches.
- Those who want something a bit more unique can decorate or DIY a wreath using unusual elements like Magnolia leaves or twigs.
While wreaths and doorways go together like peppermint and candy canes, their use doesn’t have to stop there! Small wreaths can be set around large candles and used to decorate tables, standard wreaths can be hung from windows inside or outside for a festive, high-impact look, or you can use a massive wreath on a blank wall inside your home for a bold display.
What you’ll need: Learn how to build a wreath from scratch at a 7 Dees DIY Wreath Workshop or follow instructions on our step-by-step DIY Wreath blog.
4. Use cut greenery and natural elements to fill in porch pots and patio containers.
Containers set out on porches and patios are the main way that gardeners decorate their home with natural elements all year long, and the holidays provide a green light for even more creativity to go into container arrangements! Even if your containers have already been planted for the Winter, you can still include a diverse selection of cut greens, twigs, and more to fill up any and every vacant space in your pots.
To make the most of your porch pots, stick branches and any natural elements you like directly into the soil in your containers, working around existing plants to create more fullness and a distinct holiday look. This is your opportunity to GO BIG, using massive branches, large pinecones, and stringing up lights to make the holiday magic go even further. While decorating pots under cover is a must and gives you more options for what to include, don’t skip the bigger pots that might be further out on your deck yet are still visible from inside.
What you’ll need: Sharp secateurs or pruning shears to cut the natural elements to size, a range of full, textural greenery to fill blank pots, and a strong, festive element like holly or a bow to keep the look cohesive.
5. Display houseplants and bulbs on their own in an attractive cache pot or layer them into a larger holiday installation.
You probably already decorate your home with living elements every year without even realizing it by bringing a Poinsettia home for the holidays. But holiday houseplants and bulbs go well beyond Poinsettias and into a diverse group of gorgeous plants that offer fragrance, flowers, and alluring color to anyone who chooses to use them in their holiday decorations.
Blooming bulbs like Paperwhites and Amaryllis add an unexpected and delightful floral element to indoor holiday arrangements, while Norfolk Pines add architectural texture to indoor displays. Holiday houseplants bring a true living element to holiday décor, which makes it even warmer, more custom, and more original.
While traditionalists will love the look of a red Amaryllis or Poinsettia, either on its own or en masse, we think it’s fun to go beyond the bounds of red and embrace the many other colors and styles of indoor holiday plants available. To make the most of these festive indoor plants, set them into a beautiful cache pot or basket (with a saucer inside) and top it off with moss to hide the gap between the pot and the lip of your container. You can even add in branches, lights, or ornaments to really round out the look!
What you’ll need: A vessel to put your plant in, living or dried moss to hide the gap, and a clear plastic saucer to minimize messy leaks.
Learn all about how best to care for your Holiday Houseplants on our blog.
6. Bring dwarf conifers, living Christmas Trees, and other potted plants indoors as décor.
Living plants that you wouldn’t normally see inside the house can enhance and expand your holiday décor in familiar and unexpected ways. Bringing a favorite plant inside for the holidays allows you to work with a palette well beyond that available as cut greens.
Of course, dwarf conifers are a natural fit for living Christmas trees, with many varieties available that can play to a traditional aesthetic or to a more avant-garde holiday display depending on the form and colors selected. Because they are smaller than cut trees, living Christmas trees are well suited to compact spaces and to surprising locations like dens and even kitchens.
But indoor decorating doesn’t have to stop at Christmas tree-like plants. Citrus, Camellias, and other Winter-interest plants can all be brought indoors for short periods to add excitement to holiday parties and gatherings. And why not take it to the next level by placing living plants in decorative pots with saucers to prevent drips and leaks and decorating them with LED lights and ornaments that suit your style!
What you’ll need: A pot or vessel to house your plant, a clear plastic saucer to minimize messy leaks, and a plan for watering and care which you can find on our blog!
7. Use your Christmas tree as the crescendo of all your holiday décor.
Cut Christmas Trees are the undeniable focal point of all indoor holiday décor and your chance to play up the themes and elements you’ve used in the rest of your decorating. Whether or not you incorporate other natural elements into your decorating this year, a big, beautiful Christmas tree will always help you celebrate the season by bringing something natural right inside your home.
The Christmas Tree sets the tone for the rest of your holiday décor and helps reinforce whether your look is traditional, cozy, or wild, depending on what you select and how you style it. Large, full, clipped trees will always create a traditional or nostalgic look, while spare, natural Noble Firs lean toward a woodland or Scandinavian-inspired aesthetic, and flocked trees are a great option for anyone drawn to a maximalist approach to holiday decorating.
Don’t forget that your Christmas tree is also a beautiful canvas for layering in even more natural elements like dried flowers, pinecones, or berry garlands alongside twinkle lights and ornaments. By thinking of your Christmas tree as a living element to tie the rest of your look into, you’ll be sure that all of your holiday elements work together to create something meaningful and magical!
What you’ll need: Peruse tips for selecting your Christmas tree on our blog, and be sure your tree has a fresh cut before it goes into its stand.
Fresh Greenery Ideas for Any Holiday Décor Style
Traditional & Sentimental Décor
- Create fullness with greenery but keep the color palette to classic rich reds and greens
- Drape garlands on windows, banisters, and mantles
- Hang wreaths on doors and windows
- Use evergreen conifer branches as the primary element in centerpieces, swags, and porch pots; add broadleaf evergreens for textural contrast
- Add berries, fruit, and pinecones to greenery
- Adorn holiday décor with large red or plaid bows and glass ornaments
- Select a full, stately Christmas tree
Scandinavian & Cozy Décor
- Use rich, earthy colors
- Incorporate lots of twinkling lights
- Select branches in blue-greens and rich greens; add pinecones and seedheads
- Use swags on interior and exterior doors
- Hang mistletoe in doorways
- Add potted bulbs to coffee and side tables
- Decorate with wooden or felted ornaments; use velvet ribbon in varying widths
- Select a natural Christmas tree with airy spacing, and tuck a living Christmas tree into a cozy corner
Maximalist & Wild Décor
- Create an unexpected, cheery color palette with pops of pink, orange, blue-green, and chartreuse
- Lean into the asymmetry of natural elements for swags, wreaths, and centerpieces
- Use unique items like wispy greens and orange berries
- Suspend irregular branches from the ceiling to create hanging installations
- Bring a Citrus plant or Lemon Cypress indoors; decorate like mini Christmas trees
- Use sheer or satin ribbon for more texture and drama
- Add bright color with shiny, glittery ornaments
Essential Greenery & Plants for Holiday Décor
When bringing fresh greenery and living elements into your home for the holidays, lean into things that are seasonal and grow in your area, whether foraged from your own backyard or purchased from your local garden center. By using local greenery, you’ll ensure that your aesthetic feels cohesive, elevated, and stays fresh for longer!
Evergreen Branches: Evergreen branches are the foundation of nearly all holiday arrangements, both indoors and out. Gather trimmings from your Christmas tree, branches from your garden, or browse a bulk bar of coniferous branches for elements that are durable, textural, and fragrant!
Evergreen conifer branches: Fir branches, Incense Cedar, Pine, Juniper
Broadleaf Evergreen Branches: Mixing broadleaf evergreens into natural arrangements is a chic way to give your holiday creations a more traditional feel. When harvesting branches from your garden, prune wisely to improve the specimen's structure, removing crossing branches or those in danger of snapping in Winter weather.
Broadleaf evergreen branches: Holly, Eucalyptus, Evergreen Magnolia, Winter Camellia
Colorful Twigs: Twigs add excitement and a bit of quirkiness to holiday arrangements. Used sparingly, they can act as exclamation points on wreaths, pots, and centerpieces. Used en masse, brightly colored twigs can help invigorate arrangements with a wild, effervescent enthusiasm.
Vibrant twigs: Red Twig Dogwood, Midwinter Fire Dogwood, Willow, Foraged twigs with lichen and moss
Berry Branches: Winter berries are a delight in the garden, and their uplifting presence is a natural fit for indoor or outdoor arrangements that you create this holiday season. Use berry branches to add a pop of color and introduce contrasting shapes to porch pots, wreaths, centerpieces, and more.
Attractive berry branches: Ilex, Rose Hips, Snowberry, Holly, Mistletoe
Seed Heads & Cones: Pinecones or stems with dried seedheads give arrangements an earthy, grounded nature and bring textural contrast. Forage in your own garden for perennial and grass seed heads, gather cones in the woods, or dive into the many shapes and styles available at our garden centers.
Unique seed heads and cones: Pinecones, Fir cones, Scabiosa seed heads, Eucalyptus seed heads, Breadseed Poppy seed heads, Miscanthus grass
Holiday Houseplants: The garden center is filled with potted holiday houseplants that are blooming and ready to take home, offering a wide range of choices in every flower color. Bright seasonal blooms abound, while indoor conifers act as living miniature Christmas trees that can even be decorated.
Festive houseplants: Norfolk Pine, Poinsettia, Anthurium, Cyclamen, Christmas Cactus, Lemon Cypress
Potted Indoor Bulbs: Grown to peak right around the holidays, you can buy flowering holiday bulbs that are already potted and blooming at the garden center. For more selection and options, purchase dry bulbs in October or November and plant them in your own vessels for a more customized display.
Winter-flowering indoor bulbs: Paperwhite Narcissus, Amaryllis
Potted Living Trees: Living Christmas trees are conifers potted in soil with their roots still attached. These plants are smaller than traditional cut Christmas trees but offer more diversity of texture, color, and style, ranging from traditional, classic looking miniature trees through to more unique, sculptural options.
Dwarf conifers for living Christmas trees: Grand Fir, Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Blue Spruce, Blue Ice Cypress, Japanese White Pine
Fresh Cut Trees: Perhaps the most well-known method of bringing natural elements indoors to celebrate the holidays, Christmas trees are a staple in most holiday decorating.
Popular PNW Christmas Trees: Noble Fir, Nordmann Fir, Canaan FIr, Shasta Red
Decorative Additions to Natural Arrangements
Baubles & Ornaments: Add a bit of sparkle and dimension to any natural holiday décor with well-placed baubles, bells, and ornaments. For something more subtle, use matte finishes or antique glass. For more glitz, use glitter and highly reflective elements.
Ribbons & Bows: Use ribbons to hang your creations or finish any indoor or outdoor arrangements with a festive bow. For a more organic look, select woven or natural fabrics. For a traditional or cozy feel, use plaid ribbons and bows. For drama, use ribbons with a glitter or satin finish.
Lights: LED lights are best for natural and living arrangements as they stay much cooler and will help keep your décor from heating up and drying out. Weave lights into potted arrangements or trees to add luminescent glow. For arrangements that are not close to a power source, use battery-operated fairy lights for sparkly warmth.
Care Tips to Make Fresh Greenery Last Longer
There are several ways you can prolong the life of any natural elements in your home!
- Keep it cool: Keep arrangements away from heat sources like vents and fireplaces to prevent them from drying out.
- Hydrate: If possible, make your holiday creations in a watertight vessel that allows them access to a water source. Arrange into a pot, vase, or bowl filled with wet sand, soil, or water. Always use a fresh cut when adding elements to a vessel or a when placing a Christmas tree in a stand. Regularly spray or mist freestanding arrangements that were not created with a water source.
- Seal in moisture: Spray wreaths, garlands, arrangements, and even Christmas trees with a waxy, anti-transpirant like Bonide Wilt Stop to seal the pores on the needles and leaves of your plant and prevent water loss.
- Give timeouts: Provide breaks for your living or cut greenery out on covered porches where they can enjoy cooler temperatures and higher humidity, and where you can water potted plants without fear of indoor leaks.
- Tidy and replace: Groom your arrangements periodically to tidy their appearance, and replace spent elements as needed to keep the arrangement looking good longer.
- Plan for peak freshness: Time the peak with a holiday party or gathering. Purchase materials and create decorations a few days ahead of your party for DIY holiday arrangements. Refresh older arrangements with fresh greenery if needed, and remove any drooping elements. Bring living, potted trees or plants that were recently watered (but not dripping wet) indoors the day of your party so they look their best.
The natural, organic shapes of evergreen branches, colorful twigs, and beautiful berries bring warmth and coziness to any space they grace. So head out into your own garden, take a woodsy walk, and visit the garden center to gather natural elements to incorporate in your décor this holiday season!