Blooming Christmas

What do they do/Paul Berry, florist: Want to turn your house into a winter wonderland but don't know where to start? Paul Berry can create a very merry Christmas in your home. He tells Bernice Harrison how

Imagine putting up nine Christmas trees in your house? We're not talking here about jamming them into the livingroom like a mini forest - more like dotting them around the house for a very upmarket winter wonderland sort of look.

That job "was an exception" says Paul Berry of Adonis Flowers, though he adds that it is not unusual for clients to specify more than one Christmas tree. "Though for children's bedrooms, we recommend an artificial tree as some children can be allergic to pine."

Since he set up Adonis flowers in Dublin nine years ago, a growing part of his pre-Christmas business has been providing a service where he will decorate homes for the festivities.

He says that a typical client lives in a Georgian or a good-sized Victorian house and that most people want a wreath, a table decoration for the dining table and hall table as well as the mantelpiece.

Getting the bannister done is usually prohibitively expensive, even for the most well-heeled clients: for that alone, a fresh pine-based decoration would cost around €1,000.

"As part of the job, we supply the Christmas tree, but we subcontract that through Plantlife. In homes where they are having only one tree, the request is usually that they be left undecorated so that the family can do it themselves with their own decoration."

The last week in November and the first week in December are his busiest pre-Christmas weeks for this sort of work, because clients who go for this service tend to entertain throughout the month of December with lunch parties and sit-down dinners every weekend.

Door wreaths have become hugely popular here but he advises clients who don't have a secure front garden to go for something plain with perhaps a ribbon. "The decorative ones get stolen all the time," he says.

For a while, silver-based floral colour schemes were popular but he says this year he will be using greens, reds and gold.

The idea, he says, is to take your cue from your house. "A very modern house or an apartment will need a different treatment, something like multiple glass vases with red amaryllis and red berries and again pine, because I prefer a natural look."

Prices depend on what's required. With the economic downturn, he expects clients to be perhaps a little more conservative this year, going for a wreath and a mantelpiece decoration.

A fully decorated 12 foot tree would cost between €600 and €800, depending on the decoration.

Mantel decorations start at €10 a foot for the basic fresh pine; the ultimate price depends on what you want added such as candles, nuts, flowers, etcetera

• Paul Berry, Adonis Flower Designers,

59 Patrick St, Dublin 8. Tel: 01-4545973

This column appears fortnightly