Wealden Times | WT178 | December 2016 | Interiors supplement inside

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Creating Beautiful Gardens for Brilliant Year Round Results Wealden Country Landcraft Wealden Country Landcraft For all your design, construction and maintenance requirements, contact: Adam Sutton BSc (Hons) Environmental Science | Tim Playfoot BA (Hons) Garden Design Tel:01892 722699| Adam:07979 362241 | Tim:07990 751353 | www.playfootgardendesign.co.uk
Garden Deck the halls Jo Arnell celebrates the Yuletide tradition – and fun – of decorating your house with evergreens Traditions surrounding mid-winter celebrations have been wreathed in evergreen foliage down through the ages. The Romans decorated their villas with evergreens to mark the winter festival of Saturnalia, the Pagans celebrated the winter solstice with holly and ivy and the Vikings decorated evergreen trees at Yuletide. It seems that the ancients knew a thing or two about winter and how to get through it with greenery. Long-lasting green leaves were linked to immortality; they kept the essence of warmer days alive and symbolised the hope of spring’s return. Indoor evergreens were even thought to be safe places for friendly woodland spirits to hibernate. So decorating our interiors with fresh and fragrant foliage is a natural thing to do (except for the hibernating spirits, I’m thinking – there are enough woodland creatures in my house already). It’s also ecological, economical – and healthy. Gathering is good for you The amount of daylight we directly experience affects the levels of serotonin, which drop when natural light levels are low. This can cause depression, suppress our immune system and affect our appetite and metabolism – so called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). This month can be full of tensions and too much indoor activity as it is, so it’s vital to try to get outside and into natural light as much as possible. Going out for a walk in winter is cheek-warmingly good for you and if there’s a purpose to the walk – as in festive foraging – so much the better. Added to this is the dopamine effect of picking and gathering (dopamine is a mood-lifting chemical released in the brain’s reward centre). Also, if you want to get the children outside and exhausted, they might be more willing if the walk is a quest for Christmas decorations (I only said might). The gathering process can take hours and hours if needed and can be cunningly spread out over several expeditions. Long-lasting leaves Many evergreens are suitable for bringing into the house and some will stay looking fresh long past Christmas Day. Some useful garden evergreens: Holly – very traditional, but can be a bit prickly and hard on the fingers, so wear gloves when handling. Ivy – is still one of the best Christmas evergreens, as it has Viburnum davidii pliable stems, attractive leaves, flowers and fruits (small clusters of black berries). The variegated forms add a touch of white or gold and look good against other dark leaves. Spotted Laurel (Aucuba japonica) – can be used as a wreath base, or to line a plain bowl piled with nuts or clementines. Conifer foliage is wonderful as a wreath or swag base and many varieties are scented. (Christmas is about the only time of the year when I don’t curse the huge conifers that tower behind our house.) Viburnum tinus – is completely overlooked in the garden for much of the year, a dark green blob that blends into the background, but it lasts very well inside and often has flowers too which look effective on wreaths and in table decorations. Herbs – are lovely fragrant additions and the leaves of bay and rosemary dry well. Other long-lasting leaves to try: Ruscus, Pittosporum, Osmanthus and Euonymus – these have small leaves and are useful as fillers in table decorations and on wreaths or swags. Natural decorations While you’re out on your foraging trip, look around at some of the other plants. You’ll find that there are plenty of other living (and dead) things to make decorations with: berries, seed-heads and interesting twigs (just watch out for anything sharp or poisonous). Skeletal forms and the tracery of stems and seed-heads make delicate and understated decorations that last really well. Look out for the faded bracts of Hydrangeas, which can look impressive on wreaths or just in a vase. The flowers of ornamental grasses can be used to good effect too. Husks and cones are particularly effective: beechnuts and alder cones can be left on the twigs and added to vases of flowers or paperwhite narcissi. Some twigs and branches 137 wealdentimes.co.uk
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PRICELESS December 2016 Wealden Tim
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Wealden Times | WT178 | December 2016 | Interiors supplement inside

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