This year, I created a captivating Christmas tree decorated with flowers of large white magnolias and fluffy pink peonies, and I love how it turned out! While I say it every year, this year is my favorite Christmas tree!
Shades of blush pinks, whites, and dusty blues complement the dark evergreen of the tree in such a lovely way. I also added a few new ornaments this year that made all the difference!
See all the details, and more pictures (of course) of how this tree came together, as well as how to decorate a Christmas tree with flowers.
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Why Decorate a Christmas Tree with Flowers
Each year, I get better and better at decorating our Christmas tree, adding collected ornaments and filling in gaps with various picks and stems.
There are several reasons to decorate a Christmas tree with flowers - real or faux:
- Use flowers as filler on a sparse Christmas tree
- Create dimension by placing flowers into the tree
- Add texture through different types of florals
- Bring in more color or tone colors down with neutral flowers
- Create a layered tree using flowers, picks of greenery, and berries
Whether you like real or faux flowers, both will elevate your Christmas decorating. Take our tree, with large white flowers and fluffy blush pink peonies dotted about. It is charming and elegant, while creating the most cozy living room during the holiday season!
Ways to Use Flowers on a Tree
From our Cozy Coastal Inspired Christmas Tree last year to the dreamy Pastel Decorated Christmas Tree the year before that, I have not strayed from shades of blush pinks, dusty blues, white, and sage green. Mixing in natural rattan ornaments is also a signature of mine.
Flowers look great on either an evergreen or a flocked tree. I actually tried to buy a flocked tree this year. After it arrived I determined it was too wide for our space, so I had to return it. The 7.5 feet King Flock Slim tree from King of Christmas looks lovely. We will see if I end up ordering at the end of the season.
Our current tree is a perfect size for our living room at 7.5 feet tall and 43 inches wide. I can (mostly) decorate it without the use of a step ladder, which is nice
For our tree this year, I wanted to add pink flowers of some kind as well as fill in more of the empty space. I love using large white magnolia flowers (similar) every year. They are made out of fluffy foam that fill in gaps nicely while adding interest.
Flowers look lovely to decorate a fireplace mantel and staircase garland, as I do almost every year. You can easily DIY orange garland like I did too.
I found these stunning faux beige pink peony stems for our tree. They are actually a bush, but I cut them into individual stems. You could try these similar looking blooming pink peonies.
Flowers that look lovely on a tree include:
- Big hydrangeas, like my favorite faux white hydrangeas I have in our home
- Traditional red poinsettias
- Perfect roses
- Peonies like I used on our tree
- Large white magnolia stems
Whatever color palette you choose, use flowers that you like. Think outside the box or just grab some traditional red poinsettias and try them!
There are no rules when it comes to decorating with flowers on a tree. In fact, I have seen flowers made into a garland that wraps around the tree, flowers staggered among the branches as I did on our tree, and an entire tree stuffed full of hydrangea flowers.
Make a Christmas Tree Look Full
Today you can buy very full faux Christmas trees. If you don't want to buy a new tree, or you just don't like the look of more greenery, you would rather see more ornaments, you have to layer, layer, and layer some more.
Layer - More is More
Layering is key to creating a fuller looking Christmas tree when it comes to decorations. As I mentioned, using large fluffy flowers helps immensely.
For the past few years I have decorated our tree with flocked berry stems in a dusty blue and a blush pink. They are some of my favorite Christmas decorations! I actually leave them in a basket in my office year round.
Sadly, I have been unable to find the berry stems this year, but I was elated to find a similar pink holly berry stem that would look gorgeous as well! They appear to be a slightly lighter pink but just as pretty. They can be separated into smaller picks if need be, whereas that is not possible with the berry stems I have.
Ribbons Galore
You have most likely come across a Christmas tree decorated to the nines, full of ornaments and stems for days. If it is really over the top, what may strike you immediately is the use of wide wired ribbon cascading throughout the tree.
Last year, I used a few different styles of ribbon on our coastal inspired tree: a 1 ½" tan and white stripe grosgrain ribbon, a ⅞" creamy caramel saddle stitch ribbon and a ⅜" dusty blue velvet ribbon. It felt so cozy to mix different textures, colors and patterns on our tree.
On our tree this year, I used a pinky-taupe champagne satin ribbon (similar), making sure to leave dramatically long ends to drape down the tree. Oh, the drama!
Designer trees will typically use at least a 4 inch wide wired ribbon, but you can do whatever you want to get the look you're going for, like I did.
Weave in Garlands
Have you ever used garland on your tree? Over the past few years, I always weave in 2 to 3 strands of eucalyptus garland (similar) as well as 1 to 2 strands of lambs ear garland (similar). Lambs ear is a sage green color with a fuzzy texture that lends a dreamy touch to any Christmas tree.
Again, garlands help to fill in gaps on a sparse tree.
I also use the eucalyptus garland on our staircase and mantel, weaving a couple strands in between the cedar garland. The eucalyptus garland I linked comes in a pack of 6 or 8, so you have enough for many different areas of your home.
Garland is not just for Christmastime. Use eucalyptus or lambs ear garland to decorate a wreath for Easter, the Fourth of July, or for fall.
Use Different Styles of Ornaments
Among the flowers on the tree, make sure to vary the style of ornaments, unless that is the look you want. Varying styles, shapes, and colors of ornaments will add interest and prevent your tree from looking flat.
Vary ornament styles:
- Mix ball ornaments with teardrop
- Clear glass with colors
- Textured with smooth and shiny
- Bell, star, angel, tree, and other shapes
- Mini ceramic houses or glittered houses made out of cardboard
- New with vintage and antique
Crate & Barrel carried small white ceramic townhouse ornaments (one is shown in the middle photo above) I had to add to add to my collection as soon as our local store began stocking Christmas decor.
Collecting Timeless Christmas Ornaments
Over the years, I have collected and curated an assortment of Christmas ornaments. As I have honed my design style as it relates to my Christmas decorations, I have parted with some ornaments and added new ornaments that I absolutely know will be forever.
For our Christmas tree decorated with flowers this year, I knew I wanted to incorporate classic blue and white in some way. I found a set of 12 gorgeous chinoiserie ginger jar ornaments (the "vintage style" option) that are just perfect!
Honestly, I was hesitant to even purchase them, but I am so glad I did! They are one of my favorite finds! The darker shade of blue adds depth to the tree in a way I had not anticipated.
Tip:
You can reuse ornaments year round. After the holiday season, I plan to fill a large clear glass jar in our bookshelves with the ginger jar ornaments
Another one of my favorite additions to our ornaments this year is a vintage solid brass small French horn I found at a local antique mall. I can't get over how elegant it is wherever I style it!
Our mantel is decorated with a larger vintage brass French horn found at the same antique mall. (Don't tell the hubby, but I plan to start a collection.)
When I gathered our decorations together, I knew I needed to find clear glass ornaments to bounce light around.
Macy's was on fire with their Christmas ornaments this year! In the photos below, you will see two different styles of gorgeous glass finial ornaments I found at our local Macy's. I bought three of each to scatter around the tree. They remind me of the patterns used in beautiful glass drinkware from Juliska.
The finials from Macy's sold out at some point, but you could try these other similarly stunning glass finial ornaments as well as these hand-blown glass finial ornaments to add to your own tree next year.
Make Your Own Ornaments
If you can't find what you want or need for your tree, make your own.
You may have read the post to make easy DIY Mini Present Ornaments. It is a very light DIY that only calls for tiny boxes (I used mini boxes from eye cream and the like), a little wrapping paper, and ribbon. Look how charming they look on the tree!
I said it once and I will say it again: this Christmas tree decorated with flowers is by far my favorite! During a time of year when it's cold and snowy outside, decorating a tree with flowers brings such joy that I hope you try it in your own home.
Would you decorate your Christmas tree with flowers? Leave a comment below!
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