In the holiday shopping frenzy to find just the right gifts and gleeful decorations, we often downplay the significance of the plants that make the season so delightfully festive. It’s worth pausing to peek at three such symbolic plants of the winter celebration and how they offer a glimpse into the long history of using greenery indoors during the cold months.

Evergreen boughs were once displayed over doors and windows, to keep out illness and unsavory spirits. Germany is credited with decorating trees for Christmas, as far back as the 16th century, and later bringing that tradition to Pennsylvania, as settlers immigrated to the New World. Early holiday trees were decorated with nuts and fruits. Natural, handmade ornaments were relied upon as ornaments.

The Christmas tree adds cheer to the home setting like no other plant. Whether pine, fir, spruce or cedar, dressing up a special nook with an evergreen freshens indoor spaces with a lively scent and calming color. Pick a favorite, perhaps native to West Virginia or commercially grown in the Shepherdstown area. Investigate the tree’s holiday character before you purchase to decorate.

Another symbol of the winter solstice is the globe-shaped mistletoe. The eastern mistletoe is a harmful parasitic plant, so don’t regret removing it from trees and shrubs for decorating. This native air plant attaches and sends roots into branches, tapping into the branches’ water and nutrients. Birds enjoy feasting on the plant’s milky-white berries, and then excrete seeds having a sticky coating that attach to young stems. The seeds germinate and begin to penetrate. Mature mistletoe is easy to spot at this time of year, so prune off infected branches or break off plants at the attachment point.

Then use the leathery, broad-leafed plant to decorate a door lintel, offering warm welcome to friends and family. Kissing under the mistletoe was once considered a primitive marriage rite, a bestowal of powers and even a peace offering. Beware standing under the “kissing ball” for too long, as holiday gestures are not easily refused in that location.

Burn a Yule Log (Christmas Block) in the fireplace, to warm chilly carolers, or in a backyard fire pit, to celebrate the passing of another bountiful year in the garden. Often given as a gift, the Yule Log originated as a whole tree and was fed trunk first into the fire during the 12 Days of Christmas. Folklore suggests the ashes of the Yule Log are particularly good for plants. Oak, birch and cherry are some of the traditional hardwood species used for the Yule Log.

Learn more about symbolic horticulture and plant traditions with state Cooperative Extension publications, which can be easily found online.

Kristi Hendricks is a graduate of Shepherd College and West Virginia University and a Master Gardener with the Virginia Cooperative Extension. After living in Virginia for a number of years, she has returned to her native Jefferson County. She can be reached at belowthejames@yahoo.com.