At Southlands Nursery, we always try to make things ‘interesting’ and visually intriguing , even Christmas gift plants ! This year,  cut white birch and birch bark  are ‘the favourites’ .  Using mosses, lichens and unusual berries to dress-up wreaths and pots costs very little yet looks so much better than bare earth or  ‘florist ‘s foil’.
                Our displays include vintage Santas from the  1950′s and ’60′s that light up. These remind me of my early years in Winnipeg , Manitoba.  There was a lady in my neighbourhood ( St. Boniface ),  who was known as ‘Birchdale Betty’ . She lived on the next street over from us (Birchdale Ave.), and her Christmas displays were so over-the-top that they were a tourist attraction, even back then.  She had several dozen illuminated figures, animals and thousands of lights. Music drifted out of somewhere…. it was magical .  Of course I made sure that I became her favourite six year old neighbour !  ‘Little Tommy’ had found his first mentor.  Later on, it was discovered that she was not all that sweet, and was charged with getting little old ladies to change their wills and leave her everything. But not to digress….
                            If you need inspiration for the Christmas Season , drop by the nursery and look at some of the fun offerings  ( the Birchdale Betty influence ?)