How To Make Your Home Feel Alive This Christmas
Using Christmas plants and garden finds into your seasonal home décor is a great way to overcome the low-energy feeling that so many of us experience during midwinter. And where better to seek inspiration than your local garden centre? Many of the items mentioned in this article can be purchased using National Garden Gift Cards, meaning that the gift of a voucher could really help to lift somebody’s mood.
Christmas in the UK falls at the time of year when the days are short, the sun is low in the sky and much of the natural world is dormant or resting. But with a little imagination, it’s relatively easy to make your home feel festive by using plants and natural materials to recreate the feeling of being immersed in nature.
Bring Nature Indoors with Festive Plants
Research has shown that being around plants can profoundly improve our physical and mental health. Indoor plants are associated with reduced stress, lower blood pressure and improved state of mind. And since approximately 2 million people in the UK suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, bringing nature indoors during the festive season makes perfect sense.
So how can we incorporate plants into our indoor Christmas decorations? Here are a few ideas.
- Invest in poinsettias for a traditional Christmas look. These colourful Christmas plants are usually very easy to find in garden centres. The colourful bracts bring warmth to any colour palette for an eye-catching focal point. Here’s how to care for a poinsettia.
- If you like plants with a strong ‘wow’ factor, choose Amaryllis. These tall, elegant plants make great Christmas gifts. The bulbs require minimal care and can be planted during the festive season for a spike of colour early in the new year.
- For a softer, more ‘outdoorsy’ planted arrangement, a mixture of ferns and cyclamen is a great combination. Green colours are known to boost wellbeing and these beauties will keep on bringing their benefits well into the new year.
- Mini Christmas trees or potted conifers are the perfect festive houseplants for small spaces. Pop a collection of them on your doorstep to welcome visitors to your home. Or dot some around the house on side-tables and shelves. They may be small, but they will help infuse your home with that lovely pine scent we so associate with Christmas.
- Plan ahead by planting hyacinth bulbs in pretty containers in advance of the festive season. Store them in a cool dark place until the shoots are around 5cm tall. Then move the plants into a cool, light room to encourage greening. When the flowers open, the scent will fill your home and the colour will brighten up the room.
Natural Christmas Decor Ideas
Traditional Christmas songs encourage us to ‘deck the halls with boughs of holly’ and tell tales of ‘Mummy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe’. Those songs have evolved because natural finds have been used for centuries to decorate homes for the midwinter festivities.
Many plants are associated with folklore in which they are believed to bring luck, love and well-being. But an even better reason to use natural décor at Christmas time is that greenery, pine cones and berries can be collected from your own garden for free. Not only are these foraged items low-cost, but they are sustainable too. For once their beauty has faded, natural Christmas décor can be composted and returned to the soil. What’s not to love?
How can you use natural items to decorate your home in winter?
- Choose a natural Christmas tree for that unmistakable festive aroma. After Christmas, the tree can be recycled or donated to a local animal park for enrichment activities.
- Use foraged ivy and evergreens to create an indoor wreath, garland or table topper.
- Arrange eucalyptus, dried seedheads and beautifully shaped twigs in a vase or container.
- Add potted herbs like rosemary for fragrance and greenery.
- A small sprig of greenery makes a lovely addition to a napkin ring or a gift tag.
Create a Festive Focal Point
Any interior designer will stress the importance of having a festive focal point in your home. For many, that will be a beautifully decorated indoor tree. For others, it may be a dining table styled with foliage, berries and candlelight.
Magazines, blogs and websites are full of Christmas home inspiration - so spend some time browsing for ideas that you can adapt to your own décor. It’s crucial that your seasonal focal point should be personal to you and your family. So use garden finds that reflect your taste, lifestyle and values.
If space is limited, an arrangement of greenery, pinecones and candles may be more appropriate than a Christmas tree. Or why not fashion a piece of wood into a traditional (non-edible!) Yule log with ivy, candle holders, fake snow and Christmas ornaments. Please be careful when mixing candles with foliage - some seasonal plants are highly flammable!
Other Christmas home décor ideas include making the sofa extra cosy with throws and cushions, attaching natural garlands of ivy, berries and baubles to beams and banisters, using scented plants to create a festive ambience and twining fairy lights around houseplants for extra sparkle.
Add Warmth Through Light and Greenery
When the weather outside is grey and gloomy, its important for your wellbeing that the inside of your home feels warm and welcoming. Especially during the festive season and throughout the months of January and February. Harsh indoor lights can be a bit ‘too much’ at this time of year. If your aim is to create a cosy Christmas home, why not introduce some fairy lights, or thoughtfully positioned lamps for a softer, warmer feel.
When paired with greenery, soft lighting creates a gentle, relaxing ambience and helps keep stress at bay. This is particularly worth remembering when the Christmas decorations have been taken down and the home is at risk of feeling bare. Planning a post-Christmas visit to the garden centre to spend your National Garden Gift Cards on some lush houseplants and reduced-price lights is a great mood-lifter and will re-energise your home.
FAQ’s: How To Make Your Home Feel Alive This Christmas
Your local garden centre is likely to have a good stock of traditional Christmas plants such as poinsettias, miniature conifer trees, amaryllis, hyacinths and houseplant arrangements. But don’t be afraid to think outside of the box by introducing fragrant herbs such as rosemary into your home. You can also forage for berries and greenery in your own garden. If you plan to hunt further afield for decorative plant material, be sure to seek permission from the landowner first.
Decorating naturally for Christmas means making the most of fresh greenery, real berries and living plants to bring colour and life into your home. Make foliar arrangements for window sills, mantlepieces, shelves and tables. Dried grasses, seedheads and pine cones can also add to the ambience, particularly if they are brightened up with a small amount of spray paint or glitter. Try swapping brightly coloured wrapping paper for recyclable brown paper secured with garden twine and decorated with a sprig of greenery. Don’t forget to add candles for a truly festive feel.
Homes can often look and feel drab during the short days and long nights of winter time, so use gentle lighting to illuminate dull corners and accentuate the focal points in various rooms. Indoor plants are a great way to bring life into the home.
Aim to include some big, bold leaves, interesting leaves and a variety of shapes and sizes to your houseplant arrangements. If you can, use fairy lights and lamps to draw attention to your plants.
Flowering plants, cut flowers and even silk blooms are almost guaranteed to make your home look alive in winter. You’ll find plenty of inspiration in your local garden centre where staff will be on hand to help you choose the best solutions for your home.
Garden centres are amazing places for choosing and buying Christmas decorations! They usually have several displays of products helping you to visualise how different styles and colour schemes may look in your home. If it’s natural Christmas decorations you want, garden centres can not only supply you with plants and accessories, they can give you the best information on how to care for them.
Absolutely, yes you can use your National Garden Gift Card to buy Christmas plants. Check the National Gardening Gift Card website to find a participating garden centre near you and enjoy selecting plants and accessories to make your home feel alive this Christmas.
Discover more gardening inspiration
Gardening in November
Gardening in November: Key Jobs and Seasonal Tips