How to Decorate Your Houseplants for Christmas

A traditional tree - red and green glass balls, multicolored lights, and an angel or dove at the top - never goes out of style and it smells great (for a while, at least). But if the crass commercialism of Christmas is getting on your nerves and you're tired of killing trees, why not decorate your houseplants instead?

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Christmas Tree Ornaments
• Houseplants
• String Lights
• Extension Cords

1. Assess your houseplant situation. How many do you have? How big are they? Are they placed effectively, or do you need to rearrange them for the season?

2. Get out all your lights and ornaments and divide them up. Every plant of reasonable size should get a string of lights, and the ornaments should be divided by size. (Put chunky ornaments on the rubber tree, which has strong branches and big, thick leaves; put the tiny, delicate ornaments on the asparagus fern.)

3. Put the lights on the plants first, making sure the bulbs don't touch the leaves (leaves can scorch from the heat). Remember, you'll need some excess so that the lights will plug in; rig extension cords if you need to.

4. Hang the decorations on the plants, being careful not to overstress the branches. (On delicate plants, you'll probably want to hang the ornaments close to the main stem.) If the ornaments seem too heavy for the plants, hang them on the light cord or along the rim of the pot.

Tips & Warnings

• Ficus trees look especially super - you may decide to leave the lights on all year!

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on 11/22/2005 I have a display stand that I keep my plants on, and for the holidays I move the plants and clean them. Before replacing them, I drape a festive piece of material or a table cloth over the area. I then place the plants and interweave lights. Also, if I have a plant that isn't too full, I will add a few silk Poinsettias and/or Holly to the pot. It works well to do that with hanging plants, too. You could also use some glittery sticks (homemade rather then store bought).

on 11/22/2005 Buy Christmas tree garland - as many colors as you can. Snip off 1 to 2-inch strips, and place them throughout the plant to your liking. Lights hit the garland just right and make for a festive touch.

on 11/22/2005 I have often used angel hair or "batting" in the pot under tall plants. This provides a place for pine cones to be placed - or use beautiful glass ornaments the Christmas lights will make them sparkle.

on 11/22/2005 Decorate the pot that your plant is in by using ribbon. Tie a velvet ribbon around the pot and finish in the front with a bow. Buy a ribbon bow in a seasonal pattern and wire it to a florist's pick. Place the pick into the planting medium.