Surrey Homes | SH50 | December 2018 | Health & Beauty supplement inside

Garden
Keeping it real
Ditch the plastic says Jo Arnell and decorate your home with boughs
of real holly (and other lovely things)
Our Christmas decoration box is full, we’re wading
through clutter and I really do want to cut
back on plastic and un-recyclable trimmings.
Luckily there are some beautiful things for decorating
in the garden – and they come with added benefits.
Organic decorations won’t clog up your life or your
loft, they’ll just fade naturally and sweetly away after
Christmas. Making naturally festive decorations will
satisfy that creative urge (even if it is buried as deeply as
last year’s fairy lights). When it’s all over they’ll leave no
trace, no footprint, except perhaps a momentary one in
the snow as we trudge down to the compost heap.
Festive Foraging
Serotonin levels drop as the amount of daylight decreases
and we produce far less of this mood-enhancing chemical in
the low winter light. Seasonal Affective Disorder can make
us sluggish and out of sorts – even causing severe depression.
Outdoor exercise at this time of the year will help to keep
serotonin levels up. and will picking and gathering will
release the ‘dopamine effect’. This is the ‘reward’ chemical
released in the brain, also triggered by gaming and shopping,
but originally meant for hunter-gathering. So, a winter
walk with a purpose, will definitely help to lift the mood.
The tree
Whether it’s a traditional Norway spruce, non-drop Nordman
or a fancy blue job, nothing beats a real tree and they are
more environmentally friendly than fake versions. Because
no matter how many years an artificial tree is kept, it will
probably end up as more plastic in landfill, it was made
using the earth’s resources and quite possibly it had to
travel many miles across an ocean to reach your hearth.
Making your tree last
Keep it outside for as long as you can before bringing into
the dry indoor heat. Chop a little off the bottom to freshen
up the stump and put it in water straightaway (many
Christmas tree stands have a built-in water reservoir).
Position it away from radiators and open fires. Water
every day. Like a cut flower it will carry on taking
water up through the trunk for a good while.
An alternative to a whole tree is to use an artistically
shaped branch, or bunch of twigs cut from a tree or
shrub with attractive stems, like Silver Birch, Cornus
(Dogwood), or Willow (as seen in our Christmas house
in this issue). These look best treated simply and hung
with just a few berries, baubles or fairy lights.
Berry and Bright
Use real berries and fruits to decorate both the tree and the
house, they will last a long time – admittedly not as long as
their plastic equivalents, but that is only to be celebrated.
Berries might traditionally come in red, but there are many
other colours to mix into your festive scheme. Sorbus (Rowan/
Mountain Ash) cultivars are available with multi-coloured
berries: Sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink Pagoda’ (pink), ‘Joseph Rock’
berries are yellow and Sorbus cashmiriana has white berries.
The black clusters of ivy berries look great in wreaths
and swags, as do rosehips. For an unreal-looking, metallic
purple try the berries of Callicarpa bodinieri. Remember
to compensate wildlife if you take berries and fruits.
Above: Dogwood stems are perfect for Christmas decorating
129 surrey-homes.co.uk