Add a touch of fall to your home with bittersweet
Vines with dazzling orange berries can be used to create beautiful displays
Bittersweet reminds me of my childhood. In the fall, my friends’ families harvested strands of the woody vine, which grew naturally in the woods around our hometown. Their moms snipped bits from the vines, which were covered in dazzling orange berries, and used them to create beautiful fall displays throughout their homes.
Now, I’m doing the same thing. Nope, I’m not clambering through the woods, hunting for the elusive vines and risking a serious case of poison ivy. Instead, I just open a package of fabulous fakes. I found some amazing faux bittersweet at market this year — the best I’ve ever seen — and we have been using it as the base or accent in most of our fall creations.
I’ve approached fall decorating lots of ways in my home, from creating grand, jaw-dropping displays to adding just a tiny touch or two in key spots.
This year, my homage to fall at my little lake cottage is more minimalist. Bittersweet is an important actor in the story, with little sprigs worked into my yearround displays, giving them a hint of fall. I love how wispy and airy it is, and how you can make strands of the vine peek out ahead of everything else.
In nature, bittersweet grows vertically, up trees or telephone posts, or it sprawls horizontally, covering bushes or fences.
One of the things I like best about the faux bittersweet is that it’s very easy to twist and turn into a natural-looking position, so you will swear it’s real. But in two to three years it will still look amazing — unlike natural bittersweet, which will get dry and brittle over time.
You can cut small sections to put into arrangements. You can place small bittersweet wreaths under your place settings to give your fall table a spark.
Or, use a large bittersweet wreath on your door to welcome guests, or insert sprays of bittersweet into floral arrangements.