For your Christmas decorations, take your cues from the experts. Here are tips for professional Christmas decorations from the Historic Hotels of America.
1. Keep Your Poinsettias Pretty
Poinsettias are classic Christmas decorations. "The trick to keeping poinsettias looking beautiful is to purchase them in the bud stage and put them on display before their flowers bloom," says John Van Etten, house grounds superintendent at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y. "When poinsettias are purchased in full bloom, they don't have a lot of energy left and will die shortly after they are put on display."
2. Fertilize Your Flowers
Christmas decorations have to be kept fresh. Allen Morrison, landscape designer at Jekyll Island Club Resort in Jekyll Island, Ga., recommends using a solution of 20-20-20 fertilizer (he uses Miracle Grow) for the initial watering after purchasing the poinsettia plant. Throughout the holiday season, Morrison waters every three days.
3. Bundle Them Up
Keep your Christmas decorations protected from the weather -- even indoors. Floral Designer Clark Taggert with the Williamsburg Inn in Williamsburg, Va., adds that keeping poinsettias and seasonal plants away from drafts and heat vents prolongs the plant's lifespan.
4. Use Local Flavor
Christmas decorations can reflect your surroundings. "Wherever you live, take advantage of nature's gifts in holiday decorating," says Andrea Leech from The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, N.C. She gathers fresh branches and berries from nearby fields and roadsides, and enhances them with decorative touches such as tassels and silver ribbons. Her arrangements include wild persimmon branches, bittersweet, tobacco leaves, cotton stars, okra, golden rain tree pods, pinecones and cedar berries.
5. Preserve Your Finds
Van Etten suggests storing fresh cut greens used for Christmas decorations in a cool dry place until they are needed. He also recommends spraying all cut greens with an anti-desiccant (available at garden centers) to prevent moisture from escaping and to keep the greens from becoming flammable. Spray generously (to the point of dripping) once on the finished wreath, garland, etc., and on the Christmas tree prior to decorating.
6. Keep Evergreens Ever Green
Keep your Christmas decorations from wilting before the big event. Taggert offers the tip of soaking evergreens in a bucket of water prior to making garland wreaths. This helps to re-hydrate them and to remove dirt and soil.
7. Holiday Centerpieces to Remember
Your table can be a center for your Christmas decorations. The produce department at the grocery store has the materials needed for a memorable holiday centerpiece. Taggert combines citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes and kumquats) in a bowl topped with a pineapple to add color to a room. Or, a bowl with one fruit, such as red apples, adds a festive touch and warmth.
8. Holiday Aromas
Don't forget the Christmas decorations you smell, not see. There are scents associated with the holiday season: a crackling fire, the greens of the tree or on the mantle and cookies baking in the oven. Taggert suggests a saucepan simmering with water, cinnamon sticks and cloves create an inviting welcome for guests.
9. Pretty and Fragrant
When you think of Christmas decorations, they may not spring immediately to mind. But Taggert also suggests pots of paperwhites to add a unique special holiday fragrance. Paperwhite bulbs are available at nurseries and garden centers.
Gingerbread houses are classic Christmas decorations. Aaron Morgan, executive pastry chef at The Grove Park Inn Resort in Asheville, N.C., is the co-author of "Making Great Gingerbread Houses" and has appeared on Good Morning America. He offers these tips for creating a gingerbread house.
