Beautiful trees, elegant ribbons & bows, show-stopping Christmas lights… the season of giving is in full-swing! When you’re out buying gifts and checking lists, it can be easy to forget about your live Christmas greenery back home. To help you keep everything as fresh as possible throughout December, we put together a helpful Christmas Greenery Care Guide!
How to keep Christmas Trees Fresh
All live-cut Christmas trees will eventually wilt as the moisture dries out of the needles, branches, & trunk. However, you can extend their longevity through a few simple steps (some of them you’re probably already doing!):
- Always give Christmas trees a fresh cut on the trunk. Whether you chop off 2 ft, 6 inches, or just a light shave to reopen the porous trunk-face, this fresh opening will allow water back into the tree. Think of it just like your fresh-cut flowers, where the tree stands filled with water acts like a vase.
- Location, location, location!! Christmas trees in drafty spots, near air vents, or near windows that open or receive lots of direct sunlight can all hasten your tree’s wilting. If only one of these can be avoided, I’d say air vents are the worst culprit, especially if you switch from heating to cooling like so many in Louisiana do.
- Once you’ve got a fresh cut & the perfect spot, the last thing we suggest is adding some Christmas tree preserve. Christmas tree preserve works with the water in your tree stand but brings the added benefits of a food source through nutrients, an acidifier which encourages further absorption, and disinfectant to prevent the growth of mold, fungi, & algae.
How to keep wreaths and Garlands Fresh
Live Wreaths & Garlands are even more susceptible to drying out & wilting than Christmas trees! You can try your best to avoid drafts and vents and mist them every day till the cows come home. Not saying it won’t help, it surely will! However, there’s an easier solution that will get you 90% of the way there.
- Soak your wreaths & garland in water & tree preserve. You could use a 5-gallon bucket, a bathtub, even a garbage can, but soaking is much more effective for extending the life of your greenery than just misting. Tree preserve will have the same great benefits for wreaths & garlands as they do Christmas trees. Just be sure to use cool – room temperature water.
- For larger projects – like stairwells, railings, and anything outdoors with direct sunlight, or drafty spots – we suggest you ALSO mist those sections regularly. Hopefully, with these tactics in combination, you’ll have fresh green cedar and spruce till the new year!
