• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Garden Making

Inspiring ideas and information for great home gardens

  • Design
  • Containers
  • Food
  • Gardens to visit
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
    • Manitoba
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
    • New Brunswick
    • Nova Scotia
    • Newfoundland
    • England
    • U.S.
  • Events Calendar
    • By organizing group
    • By location of events
    • In British Columbia
    • In Alberta
    • In Saskatchewan
    • In Manitoba
    • In Ontario
    • In Quebec
    • In New Brunswick
    • In Nova Scotia
    • In Prince Edward Island
    • In Newfoundland & Labrador
    • Local garden tours
    • Plant sales across Canada
    • Outside Canada
    • Form to list your event
  • Reader photos
    • Reader images of gardens
    • Container gardening images
    • Reader images of plants in 2019
    • Reader images of plants in 2018
    • Reader images of plants in 2017
    • Reader images of plants in 2016
    • Submit photo to Garden Making
  • Shop
    • Print still available
    • PDF downloads
    • Digital Library
You are here: Home / December in the garden / Cutting your own boughs for holiday decorations

Cutting your own boughs for holiday decorations

By Judith Adam

Mixed greenery for decorations can come from boughs cut in your own garden. (Photo by Joanne Young)
Mixed greenery for decorations can come from boughs cut in your own garden. (Photo by Joanne Young)

If you’re making tabletop and mantel decorations from evergreen branches, your own garden may have much to offer. Boughs of cedar, boxwood, fir, juniper, hemlock and spruce are handy for holiday projects, but first consider where to make the cuts.

Sometimes an overgrown shrub or tree is in need of trimming to balance its shape, and you may be able to use the branches you’ve removed during pruning. If an evergreen has good form and doesn’t require trimming, take branches from the back, where they won’t be missed, or from an interior branch that’s hidden behind the outermost foliage.

Trimming woody plants in spring or summer gives the cuts time to callous over, sealing out potential pathogens. When cuts are made to dormant wood in cold weather, a callous isn’t able to form and raw wood is left exposed. However, few disease organisms are present in near-freezing temperatures, and chances are you won’t have problems with infections.

Evergreen cutting garden

If you want a large amount of evergreen boughs each year, plan ahead and establish an evergreen cutting garden with plants expressly for this purpose. Irrigate and fertilize in spring to encourage maximum growth of stems and twigs that you can harvest in the cold months ahead.

Four especially fast-growing ornamental evergreen shrubs that provide colourful clippings are:

  • ‘Green Mountain’ boxwood (Buxus ‘Green Mountain’, Zone 5, 24 x 40 inches/60 cm x 1 m), dark green, glossy foliage with thick, upright form
  • ‘Rheingold’ cedar (Thuja occidentalis ‘Reingold’, Zone 4, 5 x 5 feet/1.5 x 1.5 m), gold foliage with upright form
  • ‘Sunkist’ cedar (Thuja occidentalis ‘Sunkist’, Zone 4, 7 feet x 40 inches/2 x 1 m), yellow foliage with upright form
  • Globe blue spruce (Picea pungens ‘Glauca Globosa’, Zone 4, 40 x 40 inches/1 x 1 m), powdery blue-grey needles in a densely packed dwarf form

More holiday ideas and inspiration

  • Designing a beautiful holiday container
  • Make your own winter arrangements
  • Decking the halls with greenery

Date: December 17, 2015 | Updated: December 1, 2018

About Judith Adam

Judith Adam is a horticulturist, landscape designer and author of several best-selling gardening books, including Landscape Planning. She lives in Toronto.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

Events for gardeners

  • Tofino Winterlights
    • Friday, November 29, 2019 - Sunday, January 5, 2020 in Tofino
  • Festive Fun - Entertaining Ideas for the Holidays
    • Wednesday, December 11, 2019 in Mississauga
  • AGM, Elections, Potluck
    • Thursday, December 12, 2019 in Cheltenham
  • 'Picture Perfect - Snapshots to Admire and Inspire'
    • Wednesday, January 8, 2020 in Mississauga
  • Edible Native Plant Landscapes
    • Tuesday, January 14, 2020 in Orangeville
  • Monthly Meeting
    • Wednesday, January 15, 2020 in Maple Ridge
  • Chelsea Flower Show
    • Monday, January 20, 2020 in Montreal West
  • Galt Horticultural Society's 29th Annual Dream Garden Conference
    • Sunday, January 26, 2020 in Cambridge
  • 4th Annual Plant Symposium
    • Friday, February 7, 2020 in London
  • View all events

Shop for Garden Making magazines

  • PDF downloads of magazine issues
  • Magazine issues still available in print
  • Gardening Digital Library

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

We do not share emails. Your information will be used as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Please look for our email. You must click on the link in the email to confirm. Check your inbox or spam folder.

Footer

Search

Reader submissions

  • Form to list your event
  • Submit photo to Garden Making

Garden Making magazine

  • Garden Making Shop
  • Garden Making list of magazine issues
  • Garden Making index of magazine articles
  • Advertiser list and links
  • Contact Garden Making

When you’re looking for

  • Books for gardeners
  • Containers in your garden
  • Design
  • Food to grow
  • Gardens to visit
  • Growing from seed
  • How to
  • Plant ideas
  • Tips for gardeners

Events for gardeners

  • British Columbia events
  • Alberta events
  • Saskatchewan events
  • Manitoba events
  • Ontario events
  • Quebec events
  • New Brunswick events
  • Nova Scotia events
  • Prince Edward Island events
  • Newfoundland & Labrador events
  • Form to submit your event

Copyright © 2019 Inspiring Media Inc. | GARDEN MAKING is a registered trademark | About | Service | Terms of use | Privacy policy

We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada. Government of Canada wordmark