Christmas tree picks & sprays

Artificial Christmas tree picks and sprays: buying guide

Picks and sprays are the layer most professionally decorated trees have and most home trees don't. Baubles and lights can only do so much: it's the berries, foliage, flowers and glittered twigs tucked between the branches that give a tree depth, hide gaps and tie it to the rest of the room. This guide covers what to look for, how many you'll need, how to get them to stay put and how to make them last for years.

Picks, sprays and stems: what the names mean

The terms are used loosely, so always check the measurements rather than relying on the name, but as a rule:

• A pick is a short, single wired stem with one cluster on the end, usually 15–35 cm long. Berry picks, pine cone picks and small poinsettia picks are typical. They're the gap-fillers.
• A spray is longer and branches out, typically 40–70 cm, with several offshoots of leaves, berries or twigs. Sprays reach beyond the tree's outline and are what you use for a cascading effect or a full topper.
• A stem is a long, straight piece of 60 cm or more, often sold for vases. Stems can be cut down and used in a tree, but you're paying for length you may not need.

Two things to check on any listing: whether the price is for one piece or a pack, and whether the stated length is the whole thing or just the decorated part. A "50 cm spray" with 20 cm of bare wire at the bottom adds about 30 cm of visible decoration to your tree, and the bare section is meant to disappear inside the branches.

Which type does what

Getting the size right

Length matters more than it seems from a product photo, where everything looks roughly the same size.

• 15–25 cm: wreaths, garlands, table settings, hanging baskets and trees under 4 ft. On a 6 ft tree these disappear.
• 25–40 cm: the sweet spot for 5–7 ft trees. Long enough to anchor properly, short enough not to poke out of the back of a slim tree.
• 40–70 cm: toppers, cascading effects and trees of 7.5 ft and over. On a standard tree these should run along the branches rather than straight in.

If you have a slim or pencil tree, which many UK flats and smaller living rooms do, step down a size. And if you're planning a spray topper, measure your ceiling first. Most modern UK homes have ceilings of around 2.3–2.4 m, which leaves roughly 55 cm above a 6 ft (183 cm) tree but only 25 cm or so above a 7 ft (213 cm) tree, before the stand. What matters is how far the sprays will rise above the tree once they're pushed in, not their total length.

How many you'll need

Advice online ranges from "a couple per foot" to thirty sprays in the topper alone, because it depends entirely on the look you're after. Use the table as a starting point. It assumes medium picks of around 30 cm with a reasonable head; one large spray or poinsettia does the work of two or three small picks.

Adjust for your situation: a tree in a corner only needs the front two-thirds dressed, so buy towards the lower end; a tree seen from all sides needs the full count. Add 5–7 tall sprays on top of these numbers if you want a spray topper. If you're mixing types, a rough split of half your main design, a third of a secondary type and the rest filler greenery or twigs gives variety without looking cluttered.

Choosing a colour scheme

Picks are the easiest way to carry one palette through the tree, the mantelpiece garland and the door wreath, so decide on the scheme first and buy everything together.

• Traditional: red berry picks, pine cone picks and holly or pine greenery. Add a few red poinsettias if you want more impact per piece.
• Gold: gold picks for a Christmas tree work best in two finishes, such as a bright glitter twig alongside a softer antique or champagne leaf spray. All one shade of bright gold can look flat.
• White and silver: frosted white berries, snow-dusted pine and white poinsettias on a green tree read as winter rather than Christmas, which is why this scheme stays up into January so well.
• White or flocked trees: a white tree needs contrast. Deep red, blush pink, powder blue, black or dark green picks all stand out; white picks on a white tree only work if they have a different texture, such as pearl, glass-effect or glitter. Check the shade too: bright white picks can look grey against an ivory-flocked tree.

Two practical points. Metallic and glitter finishes look much brighter under fairy lights than in daylight, so if a gold spray seems a little dull out of the box, it probably won't on the tree. And colour names aren't consistent between ranges or even between years, so if you need a dozen matching red berry picks, buy them from the same range in one order rather than topping up later.

What separates a good pick from a disappointing one

• A properly wired stem. It should bend and hold its shape, and ideally be paper- or tape-wrapped so it grips the branch. Thin, unwrapped wire on a heavy head will droop. Check whether the individual leaves and twigs are wired too; "wired stem" doesn't always mean the whole piece is shapeable.
• Density of the head. The decorated part should look full from the side, not just face-on. Sparse twig sprays are meant to be sparse; sparse berry picks aren't.
• Berry material. Foam berries are fine for light use but crush when stored badly. Plastic or resin berries last longer and are less tempting to chew.
• Finish. Glitter and artificial snow both shed. That's normal in the first season and it settles, but it's worth knowing if you have a dark carpet. Flocked "snow" isn't washable.
• Fabric quality on flowers. Velvet and heavier fabrics hold their shape; thin polyester creases in transit and can look flimsy up close, which matters in a small room where people stand near the tree.

How to put them on the tree

Order of work. Fluff the branches thoroughly first, then lights, then any ribbon or garland. Put your largest sprays, poinsettias and clusters in next, before the baubles, because they need the room and are easier to position when the tree is empty. Hang the baubles, then use small berry and greenery picks last to fill whatever gaps are left.

Anchoring. Push the stem 10–15 cm in towards the trunk rather than resting it on the branch tips, then wrap one of the tree's own branch tips around the wire or bend the last few centimetres of the stem into a hook over an inner branch. Done properly, a pick won't fall out when someone brushes past.

Placement. Work in a loose zigzag down the tree rather than straight lines or rings. Put bigger pieces lower and smaller ones towards the top so the tree keeps its shape. Vary the angle: some pointing up, some straight out, some cascading down. Sit a few deep in the branches and let others sit at the tips so the tree has depth rather than a flat layer of decoration on the surface.

Clusters. For a more designed look, wire two or three different picks together before they go in: a berry pick, a leafy spray and a flower, say. Three clusters at the top of a 6–7 ft tree, spaced in a triangle, is a quick alternative to a full spray topper. Keep the clusters together when you pack away and next year's decorating is half done.

Spray toppers. Choose four or five different sprays and use five to seven of each, pushing each stem straight down alongside the central pole and bending the tops outwards. Shorter picks won't work here; the aim is to extend the tree's height.

Real trees

Picks work just as well on a real tree, but there are no bendy artificial branch tips to wrap round the stem. Secure each one with a twist tie or a short length of floristry wire. A Nordmann fir, the most popular real tree in the UK, has stiff branches that cope with heavy poinsettias and sprays. A Norway spruce has thinner branches and drops needles as it dries, so stick to lighter picks and tie them in properly. Expect to pick needles out of the picks before you store them.

Beyond the tree

• Wreaths and garlands: three to seven short picks on a 50–60 cm wreath; one every 25–40 cm along a garland. Wire them to the frame rather than just pushing them in, especially on anything hanging on a door.
• Mantelpiece: lay sprays flat along the garland with the heads facing the room, or stand a few stems in a jug at one end.
• Table: a single short pick across each napkin or place card, or a loose bunch of mixed stems in a vase with no water to worry about.
• Gifts: a small pick tucked under the ribbon ties the presents to the tree.
• Hanging baskets and window boxes: a few pine, berry or pine cone picks pushed into an artificial basket or box give it a winter look for the cost of a handful of stems, and they lift straight out in January. Only use picks rated for outdoor use outside: most indoor picks will rust at the wire, fade in sunlight and lose their flocking in rain, and a sheltered porch still counts as outdoors.

Safety

• Artificial berries aren't edible and foam ones are the right size to chew or swallow. If you have a dog, a cat that climbs or a child under three, keep berry picks on the upper half of the tree and treat all picks as decorations rather than toys.
• Keep picks and sprays away from radiators, candles, open fires and log burners. Plastic foliage warps with heat and a pick isn't flame-retardant just because the tree is.
• On a pre-lit tree, don't wrap pick wires around the light cables, and don't cut stems while they're in the tree.

Looking after them

When they arrive. Most picks are packed flat and need a minute of shaping: fan out the leaves, lift the berries, open the flower heads. Bend the wire gently and once; repeated bending in the same spot will eventually snap it. Creased fabric petals usually relax within a day on the tree.

Cutting to size. Use wire cutters, not scissors, and leave at least 8–10 cm of stem so there's enough to anchor. Keep the offcuts: short lengths of wired stem are handy for tying clusters together.

Storage. Store picks flat in a rigid box with tissue between the heads, not in a bag and not in the same box as heavy baubles. Keep them somewhere dry; a damp loft rusts wire and marks fabric. Stored well, good picks last for many Christmases, which is where they beat a fresh bunch of holly on cost.

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