If you’re a plant lover thinking about holiday decorating, you’re in for a treat! While many plant mamas feel like they need to replace their jungle love in order to deck the halls, it’s just not so. Our plants are green and beautiful and we love to look at them, so why not decorate with them? Instead of moving your plants out of the limelight for the holiday season, let’s find ways to marry the joy of the season with the beauty of our house plants.
Using your own “greenery” as part of your holiday decorating will create a unique and unforgettable holiday ambiance. And this is the perfect place for inspiration, because below, I have twenty different ways you can get started on your holiday decorating with houseplants. Let the jungle wonderland festivities begin!
Greenery Wreath and Garland
Holiday garland and wreaths are typically filled with evergreen foliage, and they’re beautiful. But, one way to add some jungle juice to the standard garland is to add some vining houseplants. Certainly we’ve seen our share of fake ivy used as decor, but we can do so much better!
Sit a usually-hanging or a trailing plant at the end of a garland and wind the trailing vines throughout the garland. Or, give your hanging plants a trim and add the trimmed off ends to a wreath or garland. The contrasting green will add a beautiful touch to the typically solid color evergreen foliage. To keep your vines healthy longer, wrap the hidden ends in damp paper towels.
Houseplant Centerpiece or Table Runner
Small houseplants will look beautiful combined with more typical holiday decor for a festive table top for holiday meals or entertaining. Add mini poinsettias for a natural burst of red, pink, or white. Can’t you just see some variegated plants as part of a red, white, and green table?
For a more natural themed table setting, keep the standard holiday decor in the closet this year and decorate the table with houseplants, pinecones, and berries.
Potted Plant Place Card Holders
Use a small succulent, a cutting, or a small plant at each place setting of your holiday table. You can use the plant to anchor the corner of a card with your guest’s name. Or, write their name on a pretty plant marker and stick it in the planter. The plants can be gifted as party favors to your family or friends who joined you for the holiday meal. Or, keep them all for your own jungle, no judgement here!
“Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.”
– Linda Solegato
Fairy Light Plant Accents
Just as Christmas tree lights are wrapped around Christmas trees to make a beautiful holiday centerpiece in your home, lights can accent your houseplants, too! Be careful that any lights you use near your plants are lightweight and do not get hot to keep your plants safe.
You can wrap large plants like Fiddle Leaf Figs and Monsteras with fairy lights like a typical Christmas tree. Or trail lights among planters and plant groupings to provide a magical holiday atmosphere.
Air Plant Ornaments
Create lovely little Christmas tree ornaments using air plants. Choose a miniature pot of your choosing, from a repurposed ornament to a mini terra cotta planter. Add an air plant and a way to hang it, and you have a planty ornament for your tree. While you’re making yours, make a second to gift to a plant-loving friend!
Plant-Based Mantle Display
Using plants as the anchors for a mantle display is the perfect way to incorporate some of your larger plants as a focal point of your holiday decor. Combine plant groupings with more traditional holiday decor items to make your mantle sparkle.
Hanging Holiday Baskets
Here are a few ideas if you want to add holiday cheer to your hanging baskets. Dangle ornaments from the top of the basket’s hanging hook. Add fishing line to the ornament hook to drop the ornament closer to plant level if you need to make the ornament more visible. Add lightweight ball ornaments among the plant leaves or dangling from your basket. Add fairy lights to each basket or strung between baskets. Let your creativity flow!
Foliage-adorned Lighting
Add greenery to chandeliers, and by greenery, I don’t just mean typical evergreen garland. This is another spot that you can add small trailing plants or trimmed houseplant vines to your holiday decor. It’s the perfect time to trim a blemished leaf (if you were going to already) and let it show itself off one last time in a location that doesn’t get a lot of close attention.
Plant-filled Lanterns
Trade out standard pillar candles in holiday lantern displays for a potted plant instead. Whether you choose a small, lush vining plant, or a grouping on mini succulents, you can make a lovely plant-filled lantern to decorate a table, shelf, or mantle. Add fairy lights and berry sprigs to up the holiday ante.
Plant-themed String Lights
‘Tis the season of string lights, but “white” or “colored” aren’t your only choices. If you’re looking for a kitchier holiday display, there are plenty of themed light strings to add planty love to your space, from cacti to monstera, there are plenty of leafy options.
Christmas Stockings, Houseplant Style
Of course, you could buy houseplant-themed stockings to hang from your pothos-enhanced fireplace mantle garland. I might just have a few of those planned for next season. Or, there are other things you can do in the meantime.
Add trailing vines from the top of the stocking and arrange them to hang partway down the front side of the stocking in the back. Tie them with a ribbon to match your holiday decorations. Or buy plain colored stockings and stencil distinctive tropical leaf shapes across the front using fabric paint. A third option would be to use heavy houseplants as stocking hangers. Put them in festive cachepots or wrap their planter with holiday fabric and tie it with a bow to hide the place where the planter is sitting on the stocking loop.
Potted Plant Luminaries
Light-filled lanterns or paper bags lining a walk or driveway look magical on a snowy winter night. You may not be able to do this outside in the winter where you live, but potted plant luminaries would look just as magical lining a hallway, staircase, hearth, or anywhere you want to draw attention or light a path.
Choose a set of potted plants, the same or different plants, but ideally about the same size and similar color. Add a battery-powered candle to each pot and line them up in a row. If you want to go a step further, you can wrap the planters with matching fabric and add a matching bow.
Botanical Bows
Bows are everywhere during the holiday season. We see them on packages, stair railings, wreaths, bells, mistletoe, and ornaments. Add a little plant charm wherever you’re putting bows this season by making those bows out of ribbon with botanical prints or by adding a leaf or two from your favorite plant as an accent. Can you imagine a fabric napkin tied with twine and a beautiful green leaf? So pretty!
Succulent Snow Globes
Create mini snow globes by placing a succulent (or any small plant) on a wooden base. Take a clear glass ball vase and paint white “snow” dots on the inside. spray the opening edge and the first inch with white “snow” paint and place opening side down over the plant onto the wooden base. Give it plenty of time to dry before doing this. Place a bow on the flat vase bottom and now you have a lovely botanical snow globe!
A Botanical Inspired Table
Instead of breaking out holiday linens, opt for a more natural look and decorate your table with green plants, pinecones, gathered natural items, and trailing ivy. Use botanical prints for tablecloths and napkins.
Decorate Your Plants
Being careful not to harm your plant babies, add small, light ornaments and trim to branches, and vines of your houseplants. Pom pom trim makes an adorable decorative garland and comes in sizes and colors that would complement any sized plant or any holiday colors.
Plant Ladder Christmas Tree
Repurpose a wooden ladder into a holiday plant tree. Face the ladder so that you’re looking at it’s side and it visually forms a triangle with the floor. Add boards to make shelves from the ladder steps to the opposite side. The shelves should be different lengths to match the triangle shape, smaller at the top and larger at the bottom. Fill the shelves with houseplants. add bows or other holiday trimmings if you like, or leave it be for a more natural look.
Tabletop Succulent Tree
Create a tabletop tree display from small succulents or small plants. You can build a tree-shaped plant tower easily using a tiered cupcake stand as a base. Or, if you're willing to put a little more effort in, use a Styrofoam or floral foam cone as the basis for your succulent tree.
Floating Plant Candles
Floating candles are beautiful and you can turn them planty for the holidays. Using a battery powered floating candle, add succulent pieces to cover the top of the candles and float them in a pillar or other container as a centerpiece or mantel accent. Let the candlelight transforms your space into an enchanted experience.
More Plants!
The simplest way to add planty goodness to your holiday decorating is to buy more plants! Traditional holiday plants like poinsettias and Christmas cacti can add a traditional holiday touch. Or, you can always use decorating as an excuse to buy less traditional plants to add to your personal jungle. I know I plan to!
A Few Final Notes
Be careful where you place your plants around holiday decor, for their own health and watching out that they not become a fire hazard or a health hazard to small or furry visitors.
Be aware that your plants will still need light and water over the holidays, so if you’re moving them to new places, be sure to consider their care needs. If you’re just moving them to a table for a dinner party that’s one thing. But, weeks of being in a poor spot can take its toll.
Not only do they still need water, you’ll still need to be able to water them. So, as you’re moving or re-arranging them, be sure you can still reach them to care for them.
Finally, Enjoy!
Your plants can make beautiful additions to your holiday decor, but don’t forget to slow down long enough to admire them this season!
