Living Christmas Decor: Deck the Halls with Plants This Year!
Last updated: Nov 19 2021
Key takeaways
Decorate your home with living plants like Norfolk Island Pines, rosemary, olive trees, and fresh evergreens to create festive holiday displays that can be enjoyed long after the season ends.
Place potted trees or matching container plants on either side of entryways to create a warm, welcoming holiday entrance with natural greenery.
Living Christmas trees offer the beauty and fragrance of a real tree while giving you the option to plant them outdoors after the holidays for years of enjoyment.
Decorating for the holidays is an age old, beloved tradition, and for good reason! From Christmas trees and strands of lights to snowmen, stockings and Santa Clause, there are endless ways to decorate and spread that magical holiday cheer.
But our favorite thing to decorate with? You guessed it – plants! With so many varieties to choose from and so many ways to style them, plants offer the ultimate decorating potential. Read on for our living Christmas decor suggestions so you can be inspired this holiday season!
Entryway Decor
Nothing welcomes visitors like delightful entryway decor! Spruce up your doorway by flanking it with a duo of small trees or hanging a festive wreath. It’ll make your house perfectly picturesque and inviting for the holidays, instantly boosting your curb appeal. Try out the varieties below for some entryway decor inspiration.
The Norfolk Island Pine is the perfect entryway piece because of its festive appeal and ability to be grown in a container. It can thrive indoors as a house plant or outdoors in warmer climates for planting flexibility, and its soft, vibrant foliage creates visual and textural interest. Plant these trees up in your favorite containers and place them on either side of your front door to effortlessly elevate your holiday decor!
Another great container-grown tree for flanking entryways? The Arbequina Olive Tree. This unique fruit tree can be grown indoors or outdoors, depending on your climate. Try flanking the inside of your front door entryway so that guests are met with an eye-catching and festive-fun statement when they come into your home. Or, add them to either side of your dining room table so they can be enjoyed during all your holiday meals. The best part? You can harvest your olives and incorporate them into your holiday meals!
Holiday Styled Shelves
Don’t forget to decorate your shelves and tabletops this year! Small spaces like these are perfect for some of our favorite indoor house plants that don’t take up much room. Pot them into festive containers, adorn them with ribbon and lights, or mix them in with holiday knick knacks for a totally cheerful touch. Check out the house plants below to take those empty corners from drab to fab!
Known as one of the easiest house plants to care for, the Rubber Plant is an obvious choice. With wide leaves that are a deep burgundy mixed with chocolate hues and a vibrant red midrib, it’s unusually beautiful and filled with decorating potential. Its burgundy foliage is the perfect color scheme for the holidays and will instantly liven empty shelves, counters, tables, and more.
Another great house plant option for the holidays? Red Anthurium. This plant boasts bright red flowers for an elegant look all while being very low maintenance. And because Anthurium is the longest blooming potted plant, you’ll get to enjoy its long-lasting beauty and color for months at a time. Pop it up on your shelf next to your Rubber Plant, and the contrasting foliage colors will create a cheerful holiday display with little work on your end.
And for a real punch of holiday color, pick the Red Chinese Evergreen Plant. With variegated foliage of green and red-pink specks, it’s sure to stand out on your shelves and tabletops. It’s perfectly compact for tight spaces while being strong, versatile and easy to grow for gardeners of all levels. Fill every nook and cranny with holiday happiness this year when you pot up the Red Chinese Evergreen Plant!
Add the Tuscan Rosemary Plant to your collection for a cute, compact, fresh and fragrant option that’ll provide value and visual interest to your home. Very easy to maintain, this variety is strong and sturdy, so you can achieve a vibrant, aromatic herb garden without the work. Place it on a shelf with your other house plants or make it the centerpiece on a shelf or table of its own. You can even throw some small holiday lights or mini ornaments on it, and you’ll have the perfect piece of Christmas decor!
Living Christmas Trees
It’s not Christmas without a Christmas Tree, and it’s no surprise that we’re quite partial to fresh cut, living ones! There’s something about the aroma that fills your home, instantly boosting your mood and offering guests a fresh, fragrant welcome during the holidays. And who doesn’t love decorating a fresh cut tree? It’s the quintessential holiday activity for the whole family to enjoy. Plus, real trees are better for the environment since they’re biodegradable and don’t use synthetic materials. For Christmas Tree suggestions, view the list below, and get decorating!
For both beauty and practicality, choose the White Spruce Tree. This variety is drought tolerant, cold-hardy and adaptable to many different soil types for planting made ultra-easy. Pot it up in a festive container for a unique twist on the standard Christmas Tree setup. Its pleasing, pyramidal shape and thick, light green needles will give your home the holiday merriment you’re looking for!
The Fresh Cut Fraser Fir is one of the most popular types of Christmas Trees for a reason! Its thick, full branches are impressive and perfect for holding all your ornaments and decorations galore. You don’t have to worry about sparse or twig-like branches with this variety – it’ll hold up well, offering a classic shape, soft needles, and of course, an aromatic scent. Hand-picked and delivered to your door, the Fresh Cut Fraser Fir is Christmas made convenient!
The Douglas Fir is another Christmas Tree classic and is well-loved for a multitude of reasons. This variety is sturdy, cold-hardy and easy to grow with soft, flexible foliage that’s adaptable to a variety of climates. Grow it in your yard or pop it right into a holiday container, and watch its attractive branches and easygoing nature delight your home this holiday season!
From trees and wreaths to house plants, herbs and fruiting varieties, the planting possibilities are limitless. Utilizing plants as decor is an easy and rewarding way to make your home a little more festive and cozy for the season’s celebrations. Grab your baubles, tinsel and trinkets - it’s time to get planting and decorating!
We’d love to see what holiday plant decor you create this year, so tag @Trees in your Instagram and Facebook photos!
And while you’re in the Christmas spirit, check out our Holiday Gift Guide for plant present suggestions your friends and family will love. Plus, shop our entire Holiday Trees & Gift Plants Collection for more of our favorite holiday picks!
Written by
Sarah Logie
As Content Strategist at Trees.com, Sarah is smitten with words and a fanatic for flowers, particularly cut florals and house plants. With a love for curating compelling content, she also enjoys furthering her plant knowledge along the way! A few of her favorite flowers include hibiscus, hydrangeas, peonies and dahlias.
Sarah’s fondness for plants was cultivated through many childhood trips to Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as through her first job out of college at a floral event design company. In her free time, catch her snapping photos of anything and everything, day-dreaming about interior decor, and enjoying the outdoors any chance she gets.
