Auburn University, Alabama-it's time to decorate the lobby! Instead of looking for decorations in a store, why not use beautiful outdoor natural decorations? With the help of some ready-made outdoor materials and techniques provided by Lucy Edwards, the agent of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System for Family Sites, Gardens, and Family Pests, the house will immediately be transformed into a winter wonderland.

One of the most popular natural decorations during the festival is green plants. Edwards advises people to follow three important steps when collecting live green plants

"For interior decoration, the best green plants to use include pine, fir and cedar," Edwards said. "When decorating outdoors, it is best to use hemlock, spruce and broad-leaved evergreen plants."

Once the selected green plants are cut down, the challenge is to keep them fresh for as long as possible. For the best results, Edwards provides the following tips:

Want to use green plants cleverly? Edwards has a perfect and creative use for the sprigs of green plants.

Mistletoe and Christmas complement each other like milk and cookies. However, mistletoe is often difficult to obtain. As an alternative, use kissing balls to inherit the tradition.

"The kissing ball is made of short branches of boxwood or other green plants," Edwards said.

Strangely, the easiest way to make a kissing ball is to use a round potato as the base. The moisture of the potato helps to keep the cut green plants fresh. After grabbing the potatoes, tie a wire on them and hang them. Next, insert green sprigs of uniform size into the potato to completely cover it.

"To make it easier to insert green plants, try to make holes in the potatoes with metal skewers or toothpicks," Edwards said.

The green sprigs should form a uniform round ball. When finished, decorate with ribbon or berries. Hang the ball on a chandelier, doorway or window.

Bring outdoor beauty in this holiday season. For more information on using outdoor materials for decoration, please visit the Alabama Extension website www.aces.edu.