FALL: IT’S A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP!
Seasonal Decorating
Fall—I love the crispness that greets me in the morning and the beautiful color that is so plentiful in Chester County where I am blessed to live, but I hate the short days and what I know is right around the corner. . . winter and it’s cold and often dreary days!
Usually seeing the mums and pumpkins in the fields and stores is enough to get me motivated to do some fall decorating, but this year it has taken a little added inspiration. Today I visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA and came away with the inspiration I needed! I can’t wait to buy some gourds, pumpkins, flowering kale and mums and welcome the season with open arms.
Fall, and October in particular, is the beginning of the Holiday Season and all the decorations that come with it. October brings Halloween with jack-o-lanterns and witches brooms; November offers Thanksgiving and the traditional turkeys and pilgrims. As soon as Thanksgiving is over (and in the retail world even before!), it is time to begin decorating for the “really big show”—Christmas. After that holiday, we get a short break before Valentine’s Day greets us in early February.
If you love all those holidays and enjoy decorating for them specifically, by all means do so—UNLESS you are marketing your home. When your house is on the market, take a tip from Longwood Gardens—decorate for the season, rather than the holiday. Now that my children are older, I do this anyway, and have found it to be a more sophisticated look.
In September, October, and November, you can borrow lots from nature. Take a walk in the woods and gather bittersweet, pinecones and acorns. Chester County has lots of local nurseries and roadside stands that sell gourds, pumpkins, mums and kale. If you buy mums that were grown locally, they can be planted and will come back for years.
For December, January, and February, keep all the pinecones you gathered for your fall decorating and replace the gourds and pumpkins with cut evergreens and winterberry. Water thoroughly before you stick these in a pot of dirt, and they will look fresh for a very long time.
If you need some easy decorating ideas, Better Homes and Gardens offers them online at www.bhg.com . You can sign up for decorating newsletters, get tips for home improvements, and much more.
And if you still aren’t inspired, take a trip to Longwood Gardens in Southern Chester County, PA. I highly recommend it!