Florists Help Darienites Decorate for the Holidays

The holidays can be drab and dreary when you're on a budget. But Darien florists and garden shops are brimming with holiday greenery, guaranteed to add good cheer to the season, and at a fair price. 

Nielsen's Florist & Garden Shop

Florists at Nielsen's, the landmark establishment on the Post Road, have been working since January to prepare a spellbinding holiday spectacle of crystal, silver, green and red.

Traditional holiday greenery is readily available and price points vary, affording customers the opportunity to splurge-or not. On average, full, eight-inch crimson poinsettias cost $45, and eight-foot Christmas trees retail at $150. A door wreath, fit with a bow is about $30.

The garden shop is full of unique gifts and stocking stuffers. If you're looking to splurge, the shop sells high-end plush bears, which retail at about $32 to $50. Or if you're pinching pennies, bulbs of pretty paper whites, which sell for a mere $1.99 each will blossom by Christmas and disperse a heady fragrance.

Upon request, Nielsen's will dispatch their gifted floral artists right to your door to decorate your yard or mantelpiece to set the stage for special holiday memories and photo opportunities.

General Manager Sandra Nielsen's holiday-decorating tip: Fill a glass bowl with silver-glittered pine cones ($1 a piece), and place poinsettias and other blooming plants throughout the house to create the most festive effect

Flowers & Flowers

The aroma of freshly cut flowers inside the recently opened Flowers & Flowers instantly lifts the pressures and demands of the season.

And the flowers here are all but traditional. Floral genius Adam Manjuck imports perfect Coral Charm and Felix Supreme Peonies, Daffodils and Orchids from New Zealand, Portea from South Africa, Dendrobium from Thailand and Amaryllis, Lilies and other delights from Holland.

Single-stem cut flowers are all $10 or less, and classic arrangements range from $5 to $100. A work-of-art wreath of pink Protea for hanging on your front door is $120. All but the cut flowers should last through the holidays if watered as directed, Manjuck said.

Manjuck is also available for home decoration by appointment.

Manjuck's holiday-decorating tip: Order your own one-of-a-kind centerpiece. A boxwood tree decorated with Privet, Magnolia tips, Seeded Eucalyptus, Grape Vine, golden ornaments and pinecones retails at $85.

The Gardeners Center & Florist

The Gardeners Center & Florist is a one-stop-shop for everything you might need for home decoration, and at reasonable prices.

Plain wreaths average at $50, and there are plenty of decorations to choose from, including a huge stock of holiday ribbons still manufactured at textile mills in Massachusetts. You can try your hand at ribbon-tying, or the Gardener's Shop will create custom bows for the asking.

White pine, Fraser and Boxwood garlands are all $4.99 per yard, and the larger ten-inch potted Poinsettias are $60.

Fraser fir trees are stocked exclusively. They last well and are softer to the touch than balsams. There are 300 of them, at prices ranging from $60 for a five-foot tree to $350 for a 12-foot beauty, Barker said; he expects to sell all of them.

Barker's holiday-decorating tip: Christopher Radko glass ornaments are collectors' items that make great gifts.

Palmer's Market

You cannot get far along in your shopping list without passing the florist at Palmer's Market; it's located right at the door.

Christmas cactus, miniature pine trees and paper whites just arrived this week. You can purchase a plain wreath and decorate it yourself, or buy one ready to be mounted. All the holiday items are designed and executed by the shop's talented floral design staff, headed by Heather Netherwoods.

Netherwoods' holiday-decorating tip: Create your own tablescape by placing multiples of an item like small pots of poinsettias or Christmas balls down the length of your table, alongside holiday greens, pine cones and ribbons.