An Autumn Arrangement: the sustainable way

*For years I have struggled with the sustainability of floral arrangements & holiday decorations.*
If you use real flowers, they die quickly & potentially cost you a fortune - a strong argument for growing your own & foraging locally. On the other hand if you use faux greenery, you are buying & throwing out plastics - and faux rarely give you that “real” look.
This why I am challenging myself with decorating SUSTAINABLY this year.
Moving into autumn and the fall holiday season, I put together a autumnal arrangement entirely of dried greenery. This particular arrangement is made of dried wheat & dried magnolia branches - the wheat I bought dried, the magnolia branches I got fresh & hung-dried myself. Lot of plants & greenery dries well, it just takes some experimentation. I’ve heard of wonderful results with drying aging hydrangeas (fresh off the bush), though I have never had the chance to experiment with them myself.

tips for diy drying greenery:

DIY drying greenery & flowers for decoration is fairly simple. Here are some basic steps to guide you:

1. Most flowers & greenery need to be trimmed of excess leaves, then set in a vase with a little bit of water for a few days. This allows them to drink & achieve their best appearance before drying. The shallow bit of water in the vase also allows them to slowly begin “drying” in the vase beforehand, so that they don’t just die. NOTE: This step does not apply to grasses or wheat etc.

2. Next, gather your stems, tie with some kitchen string & hang them up somewhere cool & dry. Leave them to dry out for about 2-3 weeks. In our last home I just used a thumb tack the hang them up, but now I have hooks installed in our ceiling for birthday garlands, so I just use those to hang dry greenery.

why make the effort?

The beauty of using real plants, and drying them for seasonal longevity, is that you can feel confident that you are decorating SUSTAINABLY for both your wallet & the planet. Using real, dried plants either can be completely free (if you can use foraged!) or will cost you the same or less to buy - and when the season is over, you can throw out dried greenery with the confidence that it will compost back into the earth.

This is also nothing revolutionary, civilization has been using dried greenery for decoration for millenia (seriously, the Romans did it), all the way up to the Victorians at the turn of the last century. What is unnatural, is the explosion of plastic “fake” greanery that has taken over our lives over the last century at Christmastime. So lets return to an older, traditional way of decorating by utilizing the natural goodness all around us.

Below are some dried options available for purchase (like the wheat I bought dried), or some fresh greenery you can dry yourself! This list of options is also a great reference if you want to try foraging - many of the plants listed below you can find in your local area & will dry well. I intend to go forage some juniper branches from my parents property for drying for Christmas myself!