Our Hopeful Home: How To Preserve Christmas Garland To Last Throughout the Holidays.

Today I'm sharing how to preserve Christmas garlands (or wreaths) so they last throughout the Christmas holidays.

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Live Fresh Cut Pacific Northwest Douglas and Cedar Mix 10 Foot Coil Garland

I'm a huge fan of live cedar garlands for Christmas decorating. The look, the smell -- you name it. What I don't love is how it can quickly become dried out and sad looking (especially when used inside), only to then begin dropping - piece by piece - onto the floor, making a mess. Every year I say I'm going to try and preserve it and every year I neglect to do it and then regret it. This year I decided to up my game and do what I could to make it last.

I did some research and came up with a few tips and tricks that will help you preserve your live evergreen garlands and wreaths so that they stay looking better -- longer -- throughout the holidays.

How To Preserve Evergreen Garlands And Wreaths For the Holidays

1. Purchase the freshest looking garland or wreath you can find. It should smell fresh and feel supple. If it feels dry, is brown or breaks off easily or cracks in your hands, it's not fresh.

2. Once you bring it home, immerse the whole thing in water for 24 hours. You can use a metal tub or even your bath tub. If you can't do that right away be sure to keep it outside until you can. (It prefers the cold.)

Yes, this is our 1990's spa tub in the master bathroom. Don't judge. Be sure to place some weight on the garland or wreath to ensure that it stays totally immersed. I used some dinner plates and that worked well.

I purchased a 25 foot cedar garland. You can pick up live evergreen garlands and wreaths at big box hardware stores, local nurseries and even grocery stores. Live fresh cut garland and wreaths are also available on Amazon if you prefer to have them delivered.

3. Remove greens from water and set them out to dry. You can do it outside (they actually last longer and do better outside) or hang them in your garage or some other place that works for you depending on their size. I spread mine out on the patio.

4. Once dry, spray your greens with an antitranspirant or anti-desiccant. That's something that helps keep the moisture in and protects the greens so that they stay fresher longer. Wilt-Pruf and Wilt-Stop are two brands that work. I used Wilt-Stop.

I hung my garland on our split rail fence and had my daughter help by spraying the whole thing. We left it there to all day to dry.

Note: I don’t know if it was the Covid-19 supply chain problem or what, but I had a heck of a time getting my hands on this stuff. The closest hardware store had one left and it was gone by the time I got there. I looked online and even though it only came in sizes larger than I would have normally bought, since we have Amazon prime I ordered it and we got two day free shipping. In other words, it's never too early to buy your Wilt-Stop!

5. Start decorating with your garland! I finally put mine up on November 30th. Most of it is on the family room mantel but I saved some for the kitchen this year.

Right now it still looks very fresh.

6. Be sure to mist your greens with water every few days, and try to keep them away from direct heat like your heating vents, direct sunlight and yes, a working fireplace.

It always amazes me how early in the season they start selling these garlands and wreaths. Are you with me?

Here they start selling them over a month before Christmas. I'd love to wait and buy it closer to Christmas, but by then everything is gone! All the more reason to learn how to preserve your garland so you can buy it early and enjoy it all season long.

We'll see how this works for our garland this year. Only 2 weeks and 5 days to go until Christmas . . . .

Well, that's it until next time, friends!

I hope you enjoyed reading about

How To Preserve Christmas Garland

To Last Throughout the Holidays

and that I've inspired you in some way.

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