Decorating Planters with Branches for Christmas

Here's the situation. I have two pots on my front steps which each house an arrangement of Dusty Miller and cordyline.  The problem is the cordyline is looking a little worse for wear.  It's not supposed to be hardy here in Tennessee but so far it's stayin' alive, stayin' alive despite cold temperatures in the mid to lower 20's. It's also Christmas time and a little festive holiday spirit would be a welcome addition to the front porch area.

So here's what I did.  I took cuttings of several large branches of a red twig dogwood, an eastern red cedar (Juniper), and some berries from a nandina.  Then I added the evergreen juniper branches to the soil.  (I had to wet the soil first because the soil in the pot was frozen!)  I arranged the juniper branches to shield the cordyline from view and to offer them a little more winter protection.  Then I placed the red twig dogwood branches where they would be highlighted against the evergreen juniper background. Last I added the nandina berries to the pot.  I didn't want to remove a bunch of berries from our nandina since we have only the one but a couple bunches of berries from the back of the shrub won't be missed.

Here's how the arrangement looks now:

I could probably squeeze in a few more red twig dogwood branches and maybe some pyracantha berries.  Maybe I'll change out the red nandina berries for the pyracantha after the New Year. I wouldn't bet $10,000 on it but there's a possibility that could even have some rooted shrubs in my potted arrangement by spring!

 

Now I just need to add a big old Christmas bow!

(Also if you need a laugh this morning feel free to read about the Nandina that saved my garage and lawnmower!)

Decorating Through the Holidays with Live Potted Plants

The holidays are an extremely busy time of the year. We go from Halloween with spooky decorations, to Thanksgiving with autumn harvest styles, then to finally to Christmas. For those who enjoy decorating (and have the storage space for all that stuff) it can be a great deal of fun, but for others who may enjoy the holidays much more than decorating for them there are options - especially if you are a gardener! This week I potted up some live plants that will be decorating our front entryway all the way through Christmas. Once Christmas is over they can be planted in the garden to add to the landscape as evergreen plantings. (All the materials for this planting project were provided by Lowe's for Lowe's Creative Ideas)

I selected several different types of plants. The main plants are evergreen trees and shrubs that can serve as privacy screens and winter color in the future: Arborvitae and Blue Spruce. I also selected a couple heucheras because they retain their foliage throughout the winter. After buying a couple 9 packs of ornamental kale I was all done with selecting the plants.

I needed a few pots for the plants to go in so I bought 4 larger ones for the arborvitae and 4 smaller ones for the spruce trees. I paired the heucheras with two of the arborvitae pots and some kale. The other two pots of arborvitae have kale. The spruce trees would go solo in each pot.

When planting shrubs, trees, and perennials always check the root systems. Often the root systems have been inside their pots for a while and need to be loosened to encourage good growth. If you don't loosen them the roots can circle the pot and become girdled. Usually the roots are easy to loosen by rubbing around the root system but you may need to cut them with a sharp knife if they are too pot bound.

After planting I mixed the pots up with pumpkins from our Halloween decorations. When the pumpkins begin to fade (or rot) and Thanksgiving passes we'll remove them and add Christmas lights to the trees and a few little decorations that my kids will enjoy setting up!

As long as the ground can be dug this winter we'll be able to plant the trees in the ground. If you have fall berries, like holly, you could add a little more color to the design that will last all the way through the winter!