Festive decorations can be crafted from a range of natural items

Have you ever thought why we decorate our homes at this time of year with trees, greenery, lights and sparkle? Some see it as a tradition dating back two thousand years, but really the custom is much older than that. Bringing greenery into the house, particularly evergreens, which symbolise eternal life, is based on much older Norse, Druidic or Roman traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice near the twenty first of December. The halls would be decked, fruits and berries would be hung along with a wreath for the door that symbolised the eternal cycle of life. All of this has now been wrapped up into our modern Christmas house decorating, never more so than with the placing of the tree in the corner of the room. The popularity of the conifer tree brought inside at Yule tide became the height of fashion during the reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert whose family traditions influenced the nation’s taste for dressing the home with a 'Christmas Tree'.

The gift of a real tree for the house stays in the memory for a lifetime. Who can forget the smell of pine needles when they were a child and for all those magical memories to return the moment you walk into a room with a tree sparkling in the dark, waiting for the gifts to be given. Some nations even give the gift of a giant tree to other nations as a gesture of goodwill and it's something that we can copy as we bring a tree to the family as a token for their house. In our household we carry the idea a bit further by always buying or making one new tree decoration each year. Every year when we dress the tree and each bauble comes out of the box, a memory of the year it was given comes to mind.

Well time is running out, but there is still a week to go and just enough time to follow in those ancient traditions to collect or forage those natural materials to turn into gifts for family and friends. Most gardens at this time of year will give up enough evergreen trimmings or winter twigs to turn into decorations or wreaths. Dried flower heads, grasses and fern fronds all could be the raw materials for your arrangements. if you've got access to the coloured stems of dogwoods and willows in black, orange, green or red then all the better. Just add a few dabs of glue, a sprinkle of glitter, leave to dry and hey presto!

Going foraging in the great outdoors can also be a great family day out. Spending a cold and frosty afternoon searching out conifer cones on the forest floor to take home to decorate is great fun; even a trip to the seaside can provide enough material to make a distinctive Christmas decoration: I once saw a wall hanging made from driftwood in the shape of a tree that stopped me in my tracks. The lengths of wood had been cut and arranged horizontally with gaps between each piece. The ends of the sticks were tied to an outline string in the triangle shape of a tree which could then be hung flat

to the wall. The finishing touches were some simple white lights and shiny baubles fixed to the branches: so simple and yet so effective.

If you haven't got the time to craft something then a really simple, natural gift is to plant up a winter container. Some heathers or a few culinary herbs like sage, rosemary or thyme can be planted with early bulbs like crocus or reticulated iris to give a welcome spring display.

If all else fails and the clock has nearly stopped ticking, then buy a couple of packets of seeds to pop in a greetings card so that someone can grow something new from seed next year.

Jobs for the week

* Cut Christmas trees need their stump shortened by around 75mm then soaked in water before bringing inside

* Living trees in containers should be placed in a cool room for no more than the 12 days of Christmas

* Start looking through seed catalogues ready to order for next year

* Empty fuel from lawnmowers that will be in store over winter.

With thanks to Malcolm Dewar, Horticulturist at RHS Garden Harlow Carr

DIARY DATES

Until 24 December: Magic of Christmas

Get in the festive spirit with our Christmas Activity Hunt; put on your best Christmas jumper and join our fluffy polar bears and penguins in the photo booth for a festive family snap. Get creative in the glitter emporium and make your own ‘Thank You Santa’ Christmas Eve kit. Normal garden admission.

November - March: Winter Walk 10-Year Anniversary Harlow Carr celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its Winter Walk this year. To mark the occasion, 5,000 irises have been planted and will bloom as the garden moves into early spring. Adorned with daphnes, witch hazels, birch trees and maples, the striking stem colours and variety of forms, textures and scents make this a must-see from November through until March. Normal garden admission.