That festive feeling is here!
It’s a lovely challenge to see how many Christmas presents and decorations can be made with materials from my garden. I start collecting herbs and flowers to dry in autumn. Rosemary and lavender are mixed with calendula petals to make scented sachets. I’m using offcuts of micro-mesh, which can be gathered into parcels to hold the herbs, and is see-through enough to view the orange flower petals. These can be hung in wardrobes or tied to bath taps so water can run through them to release the scent.
Dried hydrangea heads are sprayed silver and combined with oak leaves, pine foliage and physalis orange lanterns to make table decorations, with fluffy seeds heads from wild clematis, known as old man’s beard. Florists’ mouldable wire lights add sparkle to the arrangements.
For my garden gate and front door, I twist coloured dogwood and willow stems into hearts and circles and attach crab apples, hydrangea heads, bay leaves and foliage. I learned to make these on a course by Georgie Newbery at Common Farm Flowers. Wreaths are reuseable and materials come from foraging in the garden and hedgerows. I’ve made some plant labels out of ash twigs. Bundled together with twine, they make pretty and useful stocking fillers. I’ve bought air-drying clay to make heart-shaped labels to hang on trees and shrubs. Terracotta pots of forced hyacinths have been brought out of the dark so they‘ll flower in time for Christmas. I planted them on September 24 and they spent 10 weeks in a dark potting shed. They’ll now have 22 days in cool, bright conditions to grow on.
Satsumas from the greenhouse are being sliced into jars of rum to make a liqueur. The recipe, is on the blog, along with ones for chocolate and orange panettone and cherry marzipan treats.