So, in comes our little Xmas tree, out come the boxes of tinsel and related manufactured bling..... and then on a whim, I decided to make a few arrangements with natural goodies from the garden, which is quite rich in such things when one bothers to look in amongst what looks like a dead or dying winter garden.
Of course it didn't help that it was pouring with rain as I was out snipping and clipping and I had to strew the house with newspaper and bits of greenery for 24 hours to dry it all out before I could start to 'do' something with them. By this time I nearly gave up and composted the lot but I'm glad I persevered. I'm no flower arranger but I'm quite pleased with what I have achieved and I think it adds a nice balance to the all too easy, bought, manufactured, plasticy stuff that adorns so many places at this time of year.
Variegated Photinia with red and orange Dogwood stems and pink and orange Spindleberry berries which I collected up the road. The dried chillies are my own too and the blue blob in the background outside the window shouldn't really be there - it's actually my OH opening the gates to friends who came to visit on Thursday! This is not a very posed photo (hence bit of curtain in shot) but the light levels are so bad at this time of year it is the only photo that doesn't have the flash reflecting in the glass!
A good old mix here of just about everything including the wonderful star-like seed pods from the plant I call wild rhubarb out of the ditch!
Finally there's our tree. Now I have tree envy as everyone else seems to have huge, green, healthy looking trees whilst ours is only green in two senses, the frugal sense and the eco, good for the environment sense. We bought it 5 Christmasses ago for the grand sum of €5 as a tiny potted specimen. Even then it wasn't the sort of tree to give anyone envy. Now it's been potted on several times, watered but forgotten to be fed and generally neglected for most of the year until the week before Xmas when it comes in for its annual makeover.
I couldn't get a decent photo of it at all; partly due to dreadful light levels and partly due to the fact it really isn't the kind of tree that photographs very well at the best of times! So I have 'enhanced' it slightly with a special effect or two, as I do have a soft spot for my not so green in colour little tree.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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