Monday, December 19, 2022

What Christmas looks like this year...

As I edited down my photos for this post I found myself thinking just how odd it is that I share photos of my holiday décor each year. I am basically a private person, yet my Christmas "tree"—in what ever form it may take—has been posted here annually for the last 13 years. What's up with that, and why do I think anybody cares?

On the other hand, am I posting for others, or for myself? That my friends is THE question. Plus at this point a lot of it is habit...

Anyway, here we are, Christmas 2022, celebrating with a new tinsel tree! I love my vintage aluminum tree but found myself dreaming of something taller, thinner, fuller—and just like that, it's here... 
I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of putting tillandsia in/on the tree this year—yet—there they are.

Before decorating I cleaned up the vases, plants, and other things that had been on and around the mantel and gave all the tillandsia a good soak. They were drying on the dining table as I assembled the tree. Just for fun I stuck a few of them in the tree before I went downstairs to dig out the ornaments and when I came back upstairs I realized I really liked the look. So for the second year in a row, I have tillandsia on my Christmas tree...

While none of my trees are green, I did work in that Christmas conifer look (and smell) with a nice long chunk of natural garland to drape along the mantel.

The mantel which is home to my collection of silver trees, six of them this year. 



There are also three silver goblets with tillandsia perched in them, the center one blooming.


My vintage tree topper fit on the new tree perfectly!


And I was excited to rediscover this string of lights Gardener's Supply gave me back in 2014.

As for wreaths I made three this year, this one is covered in brunia (a South African shrub) hangs from the mantel.

I've previously shared this "incomplete"—yet perfectly complete by design—wreath on our front door.

And I ended up hanging the eucalyptus and conifer wreath on the back of the front door, where we can enjoy it.

My collection of bottle-brush trees are all on a shelf in the bathroom this year.
I discovered quite by accident that they're doubled when reflected in the open medicine cabinet mirror.

Reflecting on the fact I've recorded 13 years worth of Christmas "trees" here on the blog got me wondering what they'd look like all together, so this coming Wednesday's post will be a round up of the festive, the spiky (remember the opuntia Christmas tree?) and the "what was I thinking?"... I'm looking forward to a trip down memory lane.

In the meantime here are a couple of late breaking updates, because I happened to come across a white cryptanthus that reminded me of the ones I wasn't able to bring home from NYC and just called out to be on the mantel...

...and I bought pepper berries, aka Schinus molle. I do love pepper berries and their softly spicy scent. Part of the fun of decorating early for the holidays is that you can keep adding to the display!

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree L Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

18 comments:

  1. The Christmas decor posts are for you AND all the people who love your plant style decorating schemes. (I STILL feel these and your mantel and tablescapes deserve a book. Heck, the Magnolia Network has been featuring regular segments by stylists with half your talent.) Your arrangements vary much more than my own but I'll probably have a Christmas decor post too. It would be a "good thing" (to quote another famous author/celebrity/plant lover) to have a book to spur my creativity next year...

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    1. I look forward to your post Kris, and thanks for all of the encouragement!

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  2. I have always really enjoyed seeing your mantles, different from any others and always very interesting -thanks for sharing them; also enjoyed the past Christmas posts of the man with the collection of Santas displays.

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  3. I love it, and can't wait for Wednesday's post.

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  4. Ditto to everything Kris said. I'm totally enjoying your design style and looking forward to Wednesday post: it's going to ROCK!
    The tall and skinny trees are the best. They don't occupy too much space and have an elegant presence about them. If one is truly into holiday decorations, I can imagine the same tree can dressed up for any and all occasions: Easter tree, '4th of July' tree, Halloween...
    I fell in love with the orange, vintage inspired cone lights. No longer on the site that provided you with them, but I'll keep looking.
    The Tillandisa looks wonderful surrounded by silver. (Beats A Partridge in a Pear Tree any day).
    Chavli

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    1. I didn't spend anytime looking to see if those lights were still available, sorry to hear that they're not. I love the tillandsia on the tree more and more, something about the ultra manmade up against the natural.

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  5. I love decorating for Christmas. It was always a big thing in my family with my Dad's birthday on Christmas Eve and my late sister Meg's on Christmas Day. Our tree topper was a painting of Santa's face (on cardboard) done by my great-grandfather. I have pretty much stopped buying holiday decor but love puling out different things from year to year and putting them in different locations. My pink tree has the same ornaments but my green one has a number of different variations I've done. Currently I'm doing Blurb.com books to remember my garden for the time when I no longer live here. A Christmas book is definitely on my list to do. Your decor is so personal and quickly. I always look forward to see what you will do and why.

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    1. I love that you have multiple trees to decorate, I never thought I would like the pink aluminum trees but I have seen some really fabulous ones this year.

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  6. It always look so elegant, Loree. Happy Christmas!

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    1. Thanks Beth, and happy Christmas to you!

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  7. Just beautiful! I love the fresh look of multiple trees ! Thanks for sharing Loree!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.

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  8. You have a great eye for detail Loree - I love how much care you put into these displays and others on your blog. With your garden in hibernation for the winter, what a wonderful way to enjoy the ‘outdoors’ in your living room.
    Horticat

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    1. Hibernation, sounds so calming. Actually we're about to be hit with very cold temps and ice so I'll be spending the next few days covering and moving things. Yuck.

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  9. Love your decorations Lori. It's neat to see how everyone decorates differently. The pine cone lights, garland and trees on the mantle look very festive. I never thought using tillandsia in the tree. We are using a potted lemon cypress as our tree this year so might try tucking in some of my smaller ones. Look forward to seeing your Christmas tree retrospective.

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  10. Very, very nice. Silver and green go so well together.

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