While no one’s pushing the poinsettia out of its spot as a focus in home holiday dĂ©cor, there are many options that can add a festive touch in and around the home.
Hole’s Greenhouse at The Enjoy Centre is a virtual winter wonderland at the moment, with greenery and artisan touches creating rustic holiday displays. Co-owner Jim Hole said containers and plants that fit this organic, raw look are hot sellers – ornamental bonsai-type fig trees with twisted stems, potted amaryllis bulbs – people are using these natural touches as holiday centrepieces in a big way.
“It doesn’t have to be Christmas-specific. People are bringing plant life inside as art,” said Hole. “Orchids, Christmas cactus, even plants growing in a picture frame – ferns and vining plants – are hung like a work of living art, growing and changing through the season.”
Likewise, there’s a move toward putting the homey touch to outside greenery, with containers lining pathways in the yard with lights, ribbons – even miniature plants and figurines – reminiscent of a village scene or forest.
“Fairy gardens are huge, inside and out,” Hole said. “With these, it’s all about scale and detail.”
Heather Wolsey, owner of Seasons Gift Shop, said her “twigs and berries” section of the store remains a huge draw, thanks to the focus on all things natural in Christmas dĂ©cor – woven wreaths and distressed or banged-up containers – old cans, vintage milk jugs – anything goes.
“It’s not an all-out country Christmas look, but there are elements,” said Wolsey, who points to the plentiful use of a signature bird in holiday dĂ©cor. A couple of years ago it was the cardinal, and more recently owls: the big-eyed birds are everywhere – as tree ornaments, statues on the mantelpiece or as part of a table centrepiece – white, metal or patchy-fabric rustic birds.
Enter the peacock. With the popularity of the jewel colour palate in home paint and bedding, peacocks are the bird of tomorrow, said Wolsey. Already the retailer is doing brisk business with single peacock feather plumes or birds of every size and fabrication, providing a shot of rich colour – teals and blues – and punch to a festive home display.
Don’t count out the beloved poinsettia, though, now dominating shelves at every grocery store and greenhouse. Hole’s Greenhouse sells some 20,000 of the holiday plants during December, 70 per cent of which are the classic red shade.
While they’re a tropical plant that came to Canada via Mexico and central America in the early 1800s, they’re easy to maintain, with lots of light during the day and watering only when moderately dry, Hole said.
“These plants can last through the season, creating a dramatic visual display,” he said. “People allocate a red poinsettia to a spot of honour, to draw attention, but they also venture out a bit with the white or marbled varieties, or ones that have interesting textures – curled or crumpled – for elsewhere in the home.”
Whether a single stem in a small vase for a shot of colour anywhere in the home, or a mass of impressive red and green from one or many plants clumped together, the poinsettia truly says Christmas.
