Eco-Friendly Yard Decorating Ideas for the Holidays

Image Source: LoveChristmasLights

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After an intense process of finding the right Design Build company we choose Eco Minded Solutions for a large home remodel project for our Carlsbad home. From the initial consultation to the completion of the project, everything ran smoothly. The crew was always on time and often worked longer than expected to keep the project on track. Loving our newly remodeled home and would highly recommend Eco Minded!

Sustainable Christmas Tree Alternatives

Image Source: www.keepingwiththetimes.com

Rosemary Christmas Tree

Instead of decorating with your typical wreaths and garlands, why not use drought-tolerant plants and herbs?

Learn more in our local San Diego Planting Guide

You can replace your Christmas tree with a Rosemary tree or a potted plant to save room and water, then re-purpose it for cooking or integrate the bush into your xeriscape landscape design. You can also decorate this lovely little plant with Christmas lights and ornaments for many years to come!

Vertical Garden Decoration

Living walls are known for being a versatile and functional addition to any home in San Diego, and are large scale wall installations that will mimick drought resistant indoor succulent terrariums.

Instead of getting a temporary tree that you’ll throw out, enjoy an innovative and green living wall with native plants that you can customize seasonally.

By switching around the plants or even just decorating them with lights, you’ll have a centerpiece for both indoor and outdoor year-round.

Fire Feature for All Seasons

Give your family the gift of staying warm in the crisper San Diego nights. Enjoy the outdoors all year long with this hot new trend for landscape design ideas for the holidays.

A fire feature, whether it be a fire pit or fire table, has several holiday and year round benefits. Enjoy cuddling with loved ones, roasting some marshmallows, and drinking hot cocoa at your leisure this holiday season, despite the cold. This feature is a consistent request for our San Diego landscape architecture projects.

Holiday Plants and Greenery

Nothing evokes the holiday season more than the scent of pine from a fresh tree or wreath.

Contrary to popular belief, cutting down a real Christmas tree and selecting fresh greenery is better for the environment than purchasing faux trees and garlands.

Read more about this Christmas tree dilemma.

Why Choose Real Greenery for Christmas

• Trees can be replanted
• Trees & fresh greenery are recyclable and compostable
• The scent of fresh pine is always better
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in faux greenery is harmful to atmosphere and soil
• Many faux greenery products contain lead

Pro-Tip: Decorate with fresh holiday greenery by hanging a eucalyptus wreath on your door to welcome visitors. Drape a fresh fir garland around the door frame or porch railing and pile spruce clippings in an unused fireplace for a unique landing for Santa.

Learn How to Recycle Your Christmas Trees and Greenery

After the holidays come to a close, properly dispose of your real Christmas trees and greenery in a compost or mulch pile.

Or use a local San Diego tree recycling drop- off programs. This year they will be hosting the 42nd Annual Christmas Tree Recycling Program from Dec. 26, 2015 to Jan. 23, 2016 with 16 drop-off locations available to residents only.

Christmas Tree Drop-Off Locations

• La Jolla – Kate Sessions Memorial Park, Soledad Road and Loring Street
• Mission Bay – Sea World Drive at Pacific Highway
• Golden Hill – Golden Hill Recreation Center, 2600 Golf Course Drive

Many neighborhoods and retail locations will host drop-off sites for tree recycling. Just be sure to remove all decorations and ornaments first!

For example Miramar Greenery Accepts trees throughout the year, plus there is curbside collection for customers using their own bins.

Types of Trees Accepted for Recycling

Both green trees and flocked trees (fake snow) will be accepted. For greenery, curbside and drop-off sites, the tree stands, ornaments, tinsel and other tree decorations must be removed. Do not drop-off artificial trees or any other items off these locations.

Incorporate Lighting into Your Yard Decorating Ideas for the Holidays

Make the season bright with a merry holiday display incorporating your home’s landscape lighting to showoff the many colors of your yard at night.

Installing outdoor landscaping lighting enhances the curb appeal of your home while offering safety at night, and can be easily transformed into different colors to suit the season.

Image Source: San Diego’s Best Christmas Lights

You can add depth and interest to your holiday lighting display by swapping out your landscaping light bulbs for a variety of colored bulbs, or by adding colored filters to the lighting cans for a magical effect. Most can be customized so you can easily change to whatever colors make you jolly.

Choose LED Christmas Lights

Wrapping strands of Christmas lights around trees, bushes, and the outline of your home’s roof is a festive and traditional way to decorate for the holiday season.

Why Choose Eco-Friendly LED Lights for Your Landscape?

• LED lights naturally shine brighter
• Even if one light goes out, the rest of the strand stays lit
• Bulbs are cool to the touch to prevent chance of fire
• LED lights are more energy efficient to help cut down on your electricity bill
• You can choose solar-powered LED lights that don’t even require electricity

You can further reduce your home’s energy consumption by installing timers for outdoor lighting to automate your displays. The installation of LED lights in any landscape can be customized for any holiday throughout the year.