A natural holiday

The natural look -- greens accented with pine cones and berries -- makes for popular traditional decorations this time of year.

Indoors or out, homeowners enjoy the fragrance and beauty of these wonders.

Greens are forgiving and easy to arrange, said Laury Hartman, designer for The Growing Place, a nursery in Naperville and Aurora.

"If you don't like the way it looks, cut it or move it," she said.

Nontraditional colors in natural materials are popular this year, such as bronzes, browns, purples and light greens, said Carol Massat, co-owner of The Growing Place.

She has used three types of eucalyptus, for example -- the one with flat leaves that we are accustomed to as well as a few varieties with seed pods.

Besides the well-known blue-gray shade, she has seen eucalyptus in purple, burgundy and mahogany.

We gathered suggestions from Massat, Hartman and Diana Stoll, retail manager for The Planter's Palette, a nursery based in Winfield.

All of them love the long-needle pine, and Massat said artificial versions look great, especially if used with real pine cones to confuse the eye.

"It is elegant and has presence," said Stoll, who likes the scale of long-needle pine on a mantel, especially with the long sugar pine cones.

Stoll agrees artificial greens have improved immensely, but she has not seen a good artificial pine cone. The real ones last for years anyway, she said.

Red winterberries, which come from a type of holly, are another favorite, but Stoll said when used indoors they should be artificial unless they are in a floral arrangement that is kept in water.

The artificial ones can be saved and used with new greens next year, Massat pointed out.

Spruce tops -- actually the tops of trees -- make perfect miniature trees for planters around the house, Stoll said. These range from $4 to $10.

"Some have little pine cones, and they are great to provide height in containers," she said.

They should be kept in water or floral foam that is kept moist.

Another green that Stoll uses indoors is boxwood tips or branches. She inserts these into the wet florist foam.

"It's stiff, you can make an overall shape of anything you want," she said.

A new item that Massat likes this year is a battery-operated votive candle. Designers at The Growing Place used them in little lanterns hung on a stairway garland. The candles are $1.19 each.

She also likes the way various sized icicles look on the garland. These cost $18 for nine that are 12 inches long.

Greens make good decorations

Designer Laury Hartman's prime rule for decorating a planter or making a swag is to use three types of greens.

Start with weepy greens such as incense cedar, variegated cedar or arborvitae. In a round planter or urn, go all the way around.

The upright ones can be red huck, oregonia, boxwood or blueberry juniper. These also circle the planter inside the weeping greens.

And when the urn is almost full, she weaves in a few long-needled pine branches to give a woodland look.

Personal touches come with sticks like red-twig and cardinal dogwood, curly willow, branches covered with glitter and branches of berries -- in a small triangle in the center.

Three pine cones can be added, but they should be together to create a focal point. And if you use a bow, it goes with the cones.

If you do this for indoors, you can use wet florists foam as the base.

Outdoor planters should have fresh, soft soil. Hartman waters the arrangement once after making it and lets it freeze. She said working in the garage makes it easier and a little warmer this time of year.

-- Deborah Donovan