Maybe you do it for the scent of piney, aromatic evergreens. Or because you want to create a winter woodland indoors. Your motive is your business.
We agree with the impulse. There's nothing more festive in December than draping greenery across a mantel, over a doorway, or down the center of the holiday table. Here are 10 sources for freshly cut garlands and boughs:
Above: Fresh pine roping. Photograph by Erin Boyle.
Above: Michigan-based Wilson Evergreens delivers via Fed Ex ground shipping three varieties of freshly cut garlands from the state's northern forests. Each garland of Cedar Pine ($46.95), White Pine ($38), or Balsam ($36) is 18 feet long.
Above: A 50-foot length of Fresh Balsam Fir Roping is $98 from Terrain.
Above: Alexa made a moody holiday garland using boughs of fresh privet with dark berries (which she found at the corner florist). You can use her technique with any kind of bough that's available from the florist; for step-by-step instructions, see DIY Privet Garland.
Above: Recreate the look of Martha Stewart's Birch Bough Door Garland (for step-by-step insructions, see Martha Stewart) with a mixture of fresh Evergreen Boughs. Each 3-pound bundle contains three pounds of north woods balsam and pine varieties; $20 from Blue Skies Forever via Etsy.
Above: Designed by The FloraCultural Society in Oakland, CA, a 42-inch-long Garland with pistachio leaves, privet, and herbs will stay fresh longer if you mist it once a day; $42.99 from Good Eggs.
Above: Woven with wire to make it easy to drape over mantels or around railings, an aromatic Bay Leaf Garland comes in two lengths, 6 and 12 feet. As the garland's leaves dry, you can use them in cooking; $59.95 or $99.95, depending on length, from Williams-Sonoma.
Above: Bloggers Mary and Tim Vidra of 17 Apart created an evergreen Christmas table runner with holly boughs cut from the garden. To recreate the look, a 24-inch box of fresh Christmas Holly is $19.99 from Mistletoe.
Above: With rounded, glossy leaves, a 4-foot-long swag of Boxwood Garland looks velvety on a mantel; $59.95 Jackson & Perkins.
Above: A 5-pound shipment of aromatic, freshly cut Evergreen Boughs to lay across a mantel is $23.95 from Vermont Evergreens.
Above: A 10-foot-long Fresh Seeded Magnolia And Berry Garland is made of a mix of Southern magnolia, eucalyptus seeds, and toyon berries and is $128 from Terrain.
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