Advent decorations that last until the Three Kings. What kind of wood should you use?

Every year we buy various declarations for the Advent and every year our apartments are flooded with a coniferous “stuff”. But different tree species dry and degrade differently your decorations may be able to survive for while but some just fade away and wither rather quickly. Today, we shall recommend conifers and deciduous trees, which will remain good-looking for a month and you don’t even need to care for them.

Fir will make your apartment smell good

It doesn’t really matter which fir you choose. Fir has a reputation of being beautiful and durable. But if you use a tree from your garden, be careful not to confuse fir(Abies)it with the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)em>. Needles are very similar so, it is easy to confuse it, but if you crush Douglas fir in the palm of your hand you will smell an unmistakable citrus scent.

A certain bet is to look for the typical “combed path” of needles.Needles should be arranged in two rows with a white line in the middle. Sometimes people even confuse it with a spruce which has needles arranged all around and they literally stick out in all directions. But if you inspect it closely it is impossible to confuse them.

Photo: Pixabay

Pine is great too

Pine wood is more resinous so, use gloves to prevent your fingers from sticking.Pine(Pinus) is a great for Christmas decorations. You can recognize it easily – the needles grow in bundles of two or more and in general, the longer and finer they are, the less strong they are.

Photo: Pixabay

Yew – poisonous but beautiful

Red yew(Taxus baccata), also called the common yew lasts for pretty long time and you will recognize it easily. Its needles are dark green to black on the upper side, while the lower side is silvery green. In the fall, yew produces red fruits called yew but it only appear on female plants (yew is dioecious). The medulla is the only part of yew that is non-poisonous and even quite tasty. But be careful as you must not consume the seed inside. However, yew fruit is sticky and even though the colour is very nice, do not use fruit for decorations.

Bring yew home only when no cats or small children share the apartment or house with you – this is because of its toxicity. In modern heated apartments, yew may not last as long as fir, so may use yew mainly for outdoor decoration…

Photo: Pixabay

Wreath can also contain regular leaves – use boxwood, for example

Boxwood aka buxusalso boasts considerable durability and it has been used to make decorations since the ancient times. In Europe, you would usually see the evergreen boxwood(Buxus sempervirens).

Photo: Pixabay

Mahonia or common holly

There are other “leafy” woods that you can use as well. Those two are not exactly the typical Christmas plants but they still look great. You can literally fall in love with the common holly or mahonia, for example. A lot of people confuse these two plans but it doesn’t matter, because they both offer the same durability when used in winter decorations. However, here is a simple trick how you can distinguish them.

Let’s take a look at mahonia first – the holly-leaved mahonia (Mahonia aquifolium) is the one you will see mainly in our gardens. As the name suggests, it really resembles the common holly, but its leaves are not as strong, massive or shiny. But if you want to be sure you kind of need to wait for the autumn and wait for the fruit it produces. It is blue.

Photo: Pixabay

On the other hand, the common holly produces red fruits (or pinkish or with white tones – it depends on the variant). In central Europe, you can usually see (Ilex aquifolium). A piece of advice, both mahonia and common holly grow relatively slowly, so don’t go too crazy when cutting the twigs. It is mainly used as a decoration touch up – although a wreath hanging above the door, made only of holly, looks great… If you want your decoration to have the fruit too, spray the twigs with colourless varnish and your decorations will last for a long time.

Photo: Pixabay

Other great tips include Lawson cypress(Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) or juniper(Juniperus) – preferably in bushy form. If you want to use these prickly guys you need to have good gloves.

Preview photo: Pixabay