There are some great ways of using natural botanicals to decorate your home

Many dried fruits and spices are suitable for threading together into a garland. As ever, my two personal favourites are cinnamon sticks and orange slices.

Thread together some dried orange slices

The pic below is of a garland I made for my tree a couple of years ago. Dried orange slices are easy to buy online, or leave fresh orange slices in a cool oven (30degC) for a few hours to dry out. My garland was threaded with natural raffia.

natural christmas garland dried orange slices — Make a natural Christmas garland with orange slices by stitching them together with raffia.

Chilli garlands are easy to make

Again, I made a garland by threading the dried chillies together using natural raffia. I pierced a hole just under the stalk on the chilli. Chillies are a lovely shade of glossy dark burgundy red, perfect for Christmas.

A cinnamon garland

This garland was on display in a laurel tree outside my house last year – see the post on how I made the garland. It comprises of a length of cinnamon sticks threaded with florists wire, decorated at intervals with ribbon and orange slices.

cinnamon stick dried orange natural garland — A natural cinnamon stick garland with dried oranges and ribbon

Ready-made natural Christmas garlands

Here are two garlands I have bought ready-made. Ready-made garlands can be expensive, but might act as inspiration in future years! It can be a simple task to thread different items onto a string for an impressive effect.

natural cotton pod garland — Natural cotton pods strung together

Or try making a dried orange slice garland with mini pumpkins, bay leaves and chillies threaded onto raffia, tying the ends with cinnamon sticks.

This second ready-made Christmas garland would be simple to copy at home, and it would be lovely if the items used had been collected on a winter walk! It would be very simple to make twig bundles like the ones shown, tied together with string or florists wire.