DECORATIONS Add some sparkle to holidays with sugar-coated fruits, greens

Extension offers tips on how to deck your halls with fresh fruits and evergreens.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Fresh fruits and evergreens -- magnolia, holly, boxwood, aucuba and juniper -- are always stylish, affordable ways to decorate for the holidays.
Floral designer Richard Phillips of Bowman's Garden Center in Portsmouth, Va. likes to use sugar to give fresh fruit a little extra sparkle.
Here's his recipe:
SUGARED FRUIT RECIPE
Ingredients:
Fresh fruits such as grapes, lady apples, oranges, figs
3 egg whites
1 pound super fine sugar
Several paintbrushes of different sizes
Wax paper
Directions:
1. Beat egg whites.
2. Lightly brush fruit on all sides with egg whites.
3. Dust fruit with sugar.
4. Place on wax paper and allow to dry for 10 minutes.
5. Repeat for stronger glitter effect.
Use these sugared fruits in centerpieces and arrangements and on wreaths of all shapes and sizes.
Dandy decoration
Unlike other Christmas items such as ornaments, trees and stockings, a wreath needs nothing but itself. A wreath can go most anywhere on doors, walls and tabletops indoors or outdoors, he says.
"Everyone is fascinated by wreaths because of their shape, texture and smells still fragrant from the fields in which they were just snipped," he says.
"A wreath is a circle completing itself with no beginning, middle or end. Wreaths are not just circles but can also be triangles, stars or square."
Look around your yard for all types of evergreens you can use to create wreaths. Use pine or magnolia or aucuba leaves to create a wreath's foundation, then tuck in stems of smaller evergreens such as boxwood and holly.
Good condition
Before you ever start arranging your evergreens, condition them first. Conditioning preserves your creative efforts because your evergreens stay fresh looking longer than just a day or two.
Extension services offer these tips on how to use evergreens for your holiday decorating:
ULightly prune your evergreens to use foliage pieces for wreaths, garlands and swags.
UUse clean, sharp cutters to remove branches; immediately put the cut ends into water until you are ready to use the foliage.
UUse a small hammer or rubber mallet to crush the ends of woody stems to allow the cutting to take in more water.
UKeep greenery out of direct sunlight.
UImmerse greenery in tepid water overnight before arranging. This overnight process called "conditioning" allows cuttings to absorb lots of moisture to help keep them fresh for many days.
UAllow foliage to dry and then spray it with an anti-transpirant, such as Wilt-pruf, to help seal in moisture. Do not use anti-transpirants on juniper berries, cedar or blue spruce because the product can damage the wax coating that gives these plants their distinctive color.
UKeep completed wreaths, garlands and arrangements in a cool location until use.
UWreaths hung on doorways in direct sunlight benefit from daily mistings of cool water.
UReplace greenery and fruits when they look bad.