When you’re dashing about buying Christmas decorations and trying to organise garlands, wreaths and the ubiquitous tree this week, spare a thought for those who decorated London’s Covent Garden.
Fifty crews worked for two weeks – at night – to install 25 truck loads of decorations. It included 70 huge red baubles, 250 metres of garlands, eight mirror balls and London’s biggest Christmas tree with 50,000 lights.
If simple and inexpensive decorations are more your style, it’s very quick and easy to put together enough festive touches around the garden to spark a bit of Christmas cheer.
Fill a big tub or container with your favourite foliage from the garden. Photinia and acmena branches are great because they have red leaves at this time of year.
Stick in a few bare branches with interesting bark, scatter pine cones or other seed pods around the base, and add fairy or solar lights. Freshen the foliage when it starts to droop.
Collect pine cones, seed pods or interesting dried foliage and spray with gold, silver and red metallic paint.
Arrange in a vintage box or basket tied with a Christmas ribbon, and add a couple of scented candles.
Buy a couple of trays of ivory and pure white candles, place them along the top of a garden wall and intersperse with gold or coloured balls.
