Who doesn’t love fall? Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and one of the things I love most is getting to decorate for it. We don’t really do specific decorations for Halloween, so the fall decorations usually go up at the end of September and stay up until the day after Thanksgiving. Then, of course, it’s time to put up the Christmas decorations.
One of the things my kids and I enjoy doing this time of year is collecting natural branches from around the farm to decorate with (We do the same at Christmas with evergreens). It’s a fun little adventure that they all like participating in. We drive around the farm looking for the prettiest, brightest leaves, I’ll cut them down and the kids load them in the bed of the UTV. We’ll usually end up with way more than we need because the kids always want a bunch of whichever branches they picked out. This is usually about the extent of involvement I have from the boys before they lose interest. So from there it’s up to me and the girls to pick out the best limbs, trim them and place them around the house. This year we learned of a great new product called “Wilt Stop” (New to us anyway). When used, it helps the leaves last longer and keep their vibrant colors. Unfortunately, we didn’t learn about it until the end of fall so we ended up cutting branches twice this year. We didn’t mind though, because not only do we enjoy our little adventures (and learning about nature while doing it), but the new branches are usually different colors and that gives the fall decorations a new look half-way through the season. I love that this is something the kids and I get to do together. We all love being outside enjoying nature and my littles still look at it like a big adventure.
One of the reasons I love decorating my house with neutral colors is that no matter what seasons I’m decorating for, everything blends well together. We moved into our new home the first week of November, so the fall decorations went up right away. Our girls are really getting into the decorating and want their room done for every season, so this is something we will be working more on in the future.
Wilt Stop puts a protective coating that holds in moisture on plant foliage, and one application lasts all season long. I cut cedar branches for Christmas decorations, sprayed them outside and then put the branches in just a little water, and they were still green at the end of January. It’s great for garland and Christmas trees as well.