Holiday Décor

Q: With Christmas coming up, do you have any tips on decorating the house? M. Harling Potomac, Maryland danielle’s tip Dried Hydrangea Wreath Hydrangea is my absolute favorite flower and plant—not least because it is so easy to grow and produces amazingly large blooms in my beloved shades ranging from lavender to electric blue, and best of all, they can be dried fairly easily. A fun way to dress up the entrance of your home, especially to welcome guests to a holiday party, is to make a wreath of dried Hydrangea and attach it to your chandelier. I do love real foliage for Christmas, but it can get pricey and tends to lose its color quickly. Hydrangea has a wonderful variety of autumn and winter colors as it dries. You simply leave it on the plant until about November (in the Washington D.C. area). Then cut and just place in a vase without water for a day or so until it is dry to the touch. Then, it’s ready to be sprayed with floral spray which helps preserve it and adds color (I prefer a apple green, leaving a few deep burgundy tones visible around the edges). All this can be done ahead of the holidays, leaving more time for all those other tasks. The easiest way to apply floral spray to Hydrangea is to take your stems outside, spray them gently, drop them through the tops of bushes, and let dry for a few hours. Then they are ready to place in a wire wreath form (which you can get at any arts and crafts store). Before attaching the flowers, place the ends of four ribbons (measured the same length the length of your chandelier chain to the top of the ceiling) equally spaced on the wreath frame. Tie two of the ribbons together and attach a bow. Do the same to the other two. Place hoops (curtain hooks are good) to the back of both bows. This is what you will use to hang the entire wreath to the top chain of your chandelier. After finishing the bows, attach Hydrangea with floral wire making sure they are snug, and you are ready to hook the whole wreath on to your chandelier. —Danielle