If you inhabit one of the bone-chilling regions of the globe, you may be one of the legions of people who derive some degree of comfort from adorning their home in winter with evergreens, as folks have done for centuries. Evergreens are a symbol of immortality and instill hope in us that spring is not just a distant dream. In the West, Christmas traditions have sprung up around these evergreen plants. Their contribution to our emotional well-being has certainly earned them a place in Christmas traditions.
These are the times, as we approach the winter solstice, when the contrast between deciduous and evergreen plants is a stark one. If you live in the North, as I do, your deciduous trees and shrubs are probably looking pretty bare. My sweetgum tree, viburnum shrubs and spirea shrubs were some of the last holdouts. Even my neighbor's Bradford pear tree, always one of the last to give up the struggle, has shed the remainder of its tardy but oh-so-brilliant fall foliage.
But while everyone else is jumping ship, my evergreen shrubs and evergreen trees, at least, are not abandoning me. They even offer a nifty 2-for-1 deal: we can take cuttings from them for the wreaths, window boxes, etc. that adorn our homes this time of year, but, all the while, they still provide much-needed color for the winter landscape. Yew and holly take the deal one step further, as they display colorful berries to complement their attractive foliage.
Read article: Christmas Traditions
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Photo ©2009 David Beaulieu (licensed to About, Inc.)
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