Christmas plants are a great addition to your garden décor. You can create an outdoor Christmas scene and trim sprigs and branches to bring indoors for fresh holiday decorations. Gardeners love expanding their landscape design to incorporate interesting foliage during all the seasons. Having established plants and shrubs at the ready come Christmastime makes decorating a breeze. These 5 must-have Christmas plants will make your garden landscape feel truly festive.
NOTHING SAY CHRISTMAS PLANTS LIKE HOLLY SHRUB
You can truly deck your halls with boughs of holly when you grow this hardy evergreen shrub. Once established, these bushes will provide a bounty of cuttings to create outdoor Christmas decoration in window boxes, wreaths, and more. Holly shrubs grow best in partial shade and bloom with tiny white flowers. Only the female plant will burst forth with plentiful red berries that add bright color to your garden. However, they will need to be pollinated by bees that have visited a male plant. Planting male and female holly shrubs near each other will provide proper pollination. Your holly shrub can then form the full display of foliage, flower, and fruit that makes this a Christmas favorite.
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THE BLUE SPRUCE IS THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE
The center of any winter garden landscape design should be the Blue Spruce. This hardy pine tree is the perfect Christmas plant. String it in lights for your holiday outdoor deco plan or trim some boughs for fragrant garlands inside the home. Caring for your Spruce takes little time and will provide your garden with an unusual color that will stand out boldly against other foliage. Plant several different heights of spruce at the same time for eye-catching interest.Grow a new family tradition by planting your own “Christmas Tree” and let the Blue Spruce anchor your winter garden landscape design.
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DECK THE GARDEN WITH VINES OF IVY
Because it is an evergreen, Ivy has become a symbol of eternal life and is a favorite during the Christmas season for use in songs and decoration. Long tendrils of Ivy can be trimmed and twisted together to make quick wreaths or garland at holiday time. For some added fun try adding some twinkly lights. The rest of the year, ivy makes a hardy roundcover, especially on steep hills or embankments where preventing soil erosion is a priority. Ivy is a great landscaping addition under trees where the shade makes it difficult for other plants to fill in.The variegated leaves of the ivy plant create a lot of visual interest when it comes to Christmas plants. This plant makes a fantastic ground cover and does well trailing from pots and window boxes.
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Mistletoe Plants are a Christmas Tradition
Adding mistletoe will elevate your garden’s Christmas plant display, and you will have plenty to hang in every doorway during the holiday season. Most gardeners think it won’t fit into their landscape design ideas. But mistletoe can be grown if you are up for the challenge. Imagine how fun it would be to clip fresh mistletoe from your garden at Christmastime! Of course, you will need a host tree for your Christmas plant. These trees make excellent hosts for Mistletoe: – Hawthorn – Lime – Apple – Poplar – Plum – Maple
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HOW TO GROW YOUR VERY OWN MISTLETOE PLANT:
Step 1: Gently squeeze the seeds out of a fresh mistletoe berry. They come out surrounded by a clear substance like jelly. Remove as much of this jelly as you can without damaging the seed. Cleaning the seed makes germination easier.
Step 2: Choose branches on your host tree that are about six to eight inches in diameter. From the underside of the branch push the seeds into any crevices in the bark. Plant as many as you can since all of the seeds will not germinate. You can always thin the plants at a later time if they are too plentiful.
Step 3: Wait. Depending on weather and light conditions, it may take months for mistletoe seeds to germinate. Once they do sprout, they will not need any care whatsoever. As your mistletoe grows, you will want to fertilize your host tree regularly, so it can stay healthy.
YEW BUSHES FORM WONDERFUL WINTER BACKDROP
Yews are not only a great Christmas plant but make a nice evergreen hedge. Boughs of yews make lovely holiday swags and garlands to decorate your home inside and out. String them along a fence and add lights for holiday cheer. Yew bushes can provide you with free Christmas decor year after year. You can even shape it into an evergreen landscaping tree perfect for holiday decorations. The yew has a rich, dark green color that lasts all year. In the fall, plentiful red berries cover the plant and add another layer of color to your garden. The plant can tolerate drought, bugs, and disease well making it a good base for your garden and overall landscape design plan that can add value to your home.
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A well designed winter display will give you some welcome color this time of year, the dormant pruning will get things under control and ready for spring, and a landscape design will allow you to envision your future outdoor space. American Gardens has the experts to help you with all of these and more!