Guest Post By: Ameila Grant/The Shrub Queen
The Yuletide season arrives differently here on the Treasure Coast. In my neighborhood Santa arrives for a pre Christmas Eve visit driving a convertible strung with Christmas lights blaring carols while he passes out candy. If you believe what you are seeing in the front yard light displays on Indian River Drive – The poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas would go more like this: after your stockings are hung by the chimney with care; Santa arrives in a sleigh driven by eight tiny Flamingoes!
I enjoy making things from natural materials for decorations during the holidays. While you can’t make garlands of fir in South Florida, there are many other wonderful materials that grow here and wash up on our shores for use in holiday arrangements and crafts.
As far as decking the hall with boughs of holly I have been using Florida Holly, the fruits of our much maligned invasive Brazilian Pepper. It should be noted that some people are allergic to this plant, it is a relative of Poison Ivy and causes the same rash – Mango trees are in this group of plants as well. So be careful.
The Crystal Bowl above has Sea Grape leaves, Sea Grapes, Brazilian Pepperberries, Bridal Veil Plumeria and some Boston Fern, all from my garden.
The wreath is mostly from my yard (Muscadine vines are overrunning the back of backyard and I repurposed some into a wreath form) The green globes are native Passionfruits (not edible and some refer to them as May Pops), some Brazilian Pepperberries and a few sprigs from our Christmas tree which I am relatively sure hails from the mountains of North Carolina.
A fun project for kids of all ages is to make seashell Christmas ornaments. Simply go to the beach, a fun project in itself, pick up some shells, rinse well with water and let them dry. Then find some glue that sticks everything together and get creative. Here are some of my creations:
Most of all, have fun and Happy Holidays.
https://theshrubqueen.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/treasure-coast-holiday-crafts/
