Video: How to Treat a Tent with Greenery (Other than Smilax)
Hanging greenery overhead to hide the top of a tent is a request that is made quite often in the event industry. In this video, I’m sharing some tips as well as a few different types of foliage (as alternatives to smilax) that you can use to make a tent space feel like a botanical garden.
Almond Leaf Studios
Key Points When Hanging Greenery For a Tent
Anytime you’re designing something overhead, you should double the amount of time it would take you to do it on your feet. You’ll be up and down the ladder, and you’ll need at least one additional pair of hands (and eyes).
This is a pretty labor-intensive offering to add to your floral design menu. Make sure you price for the most expensive foliage you might need for this task (as you may need to make substitutions and additions).
When thinking about your mechanics, you should be able to manage well with floral wire. I recommend using wire over a zip-tie unless you’re going for maximum coverage and creating heavier bunches of greenery.
Types of Greenery to Use
Deflexus
It is flexible, so you can easily weave it in and out of itself around the wire. You can wire several stems together to create your base, and then use single stems to do the “weaving.”
When it gets dry, it does shed quite a bit. Make sure you have a tarp to catch the needles underneath as you’re hanging it, and be sure to handle it gingerly.
One bunch of product could give you 4–8 feet of coverage based on the thickness of your design. For this example, the bunch I used covered about 6 feet. (Keep in mind that this could also vary based on seasonality and quality from your wholesaler.)
Italian Ruscus
This product is the closest to smilax you’re going to find as far as leaf shape and color. It is not quite as flexible as smilax or deflexus, but you can easily remove the thicker, non-flexible parts of the stems.
It can be a bit pricier than smilax and deflexus, and it also comes in smaller bunches.
Like the deflexus, you can wire several pieces together to create depth and dimension, and then weave in smaller stems for coverage as needed.
Italian Ruscus is a great option for a clear-top tent as it has a leathery texture and does very well out of water.
Other Options
Huckleberry
Hops
Plumosa