The holidays are a season of time honored traditions; traditions that don’t just apply to your family’s annual pickle hunt or Christmas Eve claymation movie marathon. Even the customs of our decorations come with a rich history of holidays past. Customary seasonal decor that we, as the keepers of the plants, play a big part in; wintergreens. We love the bright and green aroma and aesthetic they bring into your home around the holidays, and we are not the only ones.

The history of wintergreens can be traced back to Greek and Roman times when families brought wintergreens into their homes because they were mesmerized by their ability to stay green even through cold winters. Assuming the greens had supernatural powers, Greeks and Romans thought they would provide protection for their home and were a symbol of the hope in the coming spring. Interesting strategy for protection if you ask me; raccoons and weasels stay alive and vibrant all winter but you don’t see me inviting them in for the holidays.

Fast forward to the 1500s and according to legend, Martin Luther decorated the very first Christmas tree with candles to mirror a snow covered tree in the forest reflecting the twinkle of the shining stars. In the following century, French families began decorating fir trees around the holiday season and German immigrants brought this tradition to the New World. Most early Americans thought the whole idea of bringing a tree into your home for the holidays was a silly idea and the trend didn’t catch on until over 200 years later.

The first commercially sold natural trees came to New York City in 1851 and four years later, President Franklin Pierce put the first Christmas tree in the White House. Following in typical “keeping up with the Joneses” American spirit, evergreen trees become an important part of holiday tradition in homes around the country. Though candles had been a popular, yet hazardous, way to keep your holiday aglow, in 1882 electric Christmas lights hit the market. Now instead of dealing with the stress of a potential present-burning inferno in the living room, families got to enjoy their barren tree while untangling miles and miles of string lights. Three years later we stepped even farther away from tradition, as the first artificial tree was sold with 33 limbs for just fifty cents! Commercialized Christmas at its finest. Now instead of strapping a fresh cut fir on the top of the station wagon, families pull out a coffin-like cardboard box form the attic to bring their Christmas tree back to life through intense color-coded branch assembly.

Over the next decades wintergreen trends flip-flopped back and forth between traditional decor and the “space aged” technology like lead-lined tinsel and aluminum trees. There are now so many types of wintergreens to celebrate the season with, it’s humorous to think it all started with a naive people group and “supernatural” plants. Whatever way you like to bring the green into your home this holiday season, we hope you enjoy the natural (and sometimes artificial) splendor of wintergreens and carry on the tradition of bringing the outdoors in.