Poinsettias, Christmas cacti and evergreen coniferous trees may define the Christmas season, but in the Southwest, we donโt have to stop there when it comes to holiday decor.
Landscape designers Phyllis Sadler-Tampio and Carla Kenworthy suggest several ways to incorporate desert and desert-adapted plants inside and outdoors. They also have some ideas on how to refresh some seasonal plant favorites.
SOUTHWESTern LOOK adds particular beauty
You donโt have to have snow to create a seasonal holiday vibe. The desert offers its own winter beauty that you can pretty up to reflect the holidays. Plus, you can keep growing these plants for next year.
Many landscape plants add red to the scenery at this time of year, Sadler-Tampio says. They include:
- varieties of red-spined barrel cactus.
- heavenly bamboo (Nandina), on which leaves turn red in the fall and winter.
- firethorn (Pyracantha) that sports red or orange berries in the winter.
- flowering shrubs such as red skullcap (Scutellaria suffrutescens), Turkโs cap (Malvaviscus arboreus) and emu bush (Eremophila maculata). Sadler-Tampio insists they can be coaxed into having red blooms around the holidays.
Put young plants of these species in red or green pots as table or home-entry settings, then transplant them into the ground for years of merry holiday color. As they get larger, add red bows or bulbs to make them more festive.
The same idea of โuse and replantโ also works with wreaths made of prickly pear pads, Kenworthy says.
โTheyโll last a long time,โ she says, โand the great thing is you can recycle that.โ A pad can be placed on the ground or planted, and soon will form roots and grow.
Other desert plants can easily become holiday decorations by putting them in red pots, adding cranberries, fake sprigs of red berries and bows, and surrounding them with candles.
Sadler-Tampio likes to add such adornments to variegated agave and yucca with their green- and cream-colored leaves.
So-called jewel succulentsโecheveria, graptopetalum and graptosedum, for exampleโwith their small, plump leaves of purple and red hues, make a pretty table centerpiece when planted in a square box with a red bow tied around it.
Kenworthy suggests something similar by planting these types of succulents in a decked-out bundt pan.
For an unusual bit of Christmas swag, Kenworthy brings in a gnarly, dead branch of a deciduous tree such as Texas ebony. Sheโll attach it to a wall or bannister, then hang holiday balls from it and wrap sprigs of berries or ivy around it.
โThis is a way to decorate for the holidays without having to have a tree,โ she says.
FRESH IDEAS FOR some OLD FAVoriteS
The landscape designers suggest you take advantage of the Sonoran Desert climate to give new life to traditional symbols of the winter season.
For instance, Sadler-Tampio offers one solution to the usual lack of snow for the holidays: Decorate in white.
โOne thing we donโt have here in the desert is that Christmas feeling of frost and snow,โ she says.
She likes to combine a pot of white poinsettia with a container of silvery sage with its fuzzy leaves. โIt gives that frosty feeling,โ she says.
She will add white ribbon and bulbs to break up a sea of red and green containers and plants.
Another crisp, white look she suggests is filling a vase with cut, white poinsettias and cut gardenias or other white blossoms. Although cut poinsettias last only a few hours, thatโs long enough to serve as a dinner centerpiece.
Kenworthy also likes to add the unusual with poinsettias, creating table or entry settings by incorporating pots of the red Mexican plant with pink or red bromeliads. The bromeliads can then be moved to a patio for year-round growing.
Evergreen garlands can be the basis for a stunning outdoor table setting, Sadler-Tampio says.
Weave long fir or pine garlands down the length of the table. Add small pots of cactus and poinsettias, bows and candles for a holiday runner that smells as festive as it looks.
โSince the weather is so nice here, if you add cactus, Christmas cactus or poinsettia interspersed with that garland, youโll still have that Christmas flair,โ she says.
In another idea, Sadler-Tampio says red or red-white amaryllis is easily complemented with red-spined cactus as another kind of table setting.
ACCENTS to bring everything together
Many outdoor trees, including mesquite and citrus, keep their leaves through the holidays, says Sadler-Tampio, providing a ready-made palette for Christmas decorating. โItโs always great to hang things from our trees,โ she says.
Hanging giant holiday bulbs is an easy way to festoon an outdoor tree. Kenworthy suggests spending a little more to buy solar light globes. Theyโre colorful during the day and softly illuminate the long nights without unsightly cords.
People with extra citrus can make good use of them by hanging them on trees either whole or sliced, she says. Kumquats and lemons, in particular, add a different hue, as well as wonderful aroma, to a holiday tree either outdoors or inside.
Another Kenworthy idea to hang on trees is to string red- and silver-hued air plants into balls, then dangle them from branches.
Dress up outdoor rosemary plants with mesh balls filled with cloves and tied on with red ribbon, Sadler-Tampio says.
Gardeners of plants in containers can use what they already have to decorate for the holidays, even if the plant itself doesnโt look like a holiday species, both designers agree.
Stencil holiday symbols such as holly or poinsettias onto plain terra cotta pots. Tie red ribbons around clay planters. Set plants in red and green pots.
Place these along walkways, on patios, in foyers and on tables.
โYou can be creative with your use of pots and make welcoming displays,โ Sadler-Tampio says.
