It's not debris, it's decor

The holidays are upon us and 'tis the season for decorating around our homes and businesses. Craft stores abound with real and artificial pine cones, branches, dried flowers and more.

Before purchasing these items, scavenge your yard to see what you might find to re-purpose on your holiday table, mantel or front porch. Pine cones, spruce cones, small branches and dried seed pods, and even the last round of fallen leaves, can all be put to good use.

Rather than ignoring or discarding these items in the trash, give them a fresh life as holiday décor.

Here are some ideas for creative re-purposing:

• Bundle small bunches of elongated spruce cones or twigs with twine. They make excellent fire starters for wood-burning stoves, fireplaces and fire pits. Little bundles are an easy craft kids can make as gifts.
• Dust off the front-porch container that held geraniums last summer. Place evergreen trimmings such as juniper branches, anchored in the soil, in a ring around the edge of the container. Fill the middle with a mound of pinecones and add height by standing small branches in the center. Branches can be left natural or spray-painted gold or silver to add holiday glitz. Tuck in red berries or ornaments for a pop of color.
• Use small branches, echinacea pods or dried yarrow stems for texture in indoor arrangements. They can be left natural or spray painted to create contrast.
• Rose hips are prickly to harvest, but will hold their color well beyond one season, Use them in wreaths and arrangements.
• Re-create the look of berries on snow indoors. Place a dense cluster of baby's breath in a vase filled with water and add stems of fresh red berries among the baby's breath. In a clear vase, berries left on submerged stems are pretty, too.

Before you decorate, check out what Mother Nature has left in your yard. What was yesterday's pruning debris can quickly be transformed into today's seasonal décor.

Get your home ready for the holiday season. Email us at info@designscapes.org to schedule your holiday lighting and decor install.