Deck the Halls With Holiday Planters

It’s December.

Do you know where your level of holiday readiness is? With the unofficial kickoff to the holiday season a week and a half past, it's easy to worry that there is much to do and little time to do it.

If you wish those strands of twinkling lights would string themselves, here are a few holiday planters that make a big impression using a lot of what you already have.

The featured pictures are some holiday decorations done by two of my co-workers for clients of EverGreen Landscape Associates.

Start with a mix of evergreens that have different textures.

Some ideas are white pine, blue spruce, serbian spruce, and boxwood. I especially like the use of dried flowers or seed heads left over from the garden such as the cones of coneflower, or hydrangea flowers. Another idea is to harvest the hydrangeas in the fall when they still have some color to the drying petals.

Decorative bark adds color and a linear element. Popular stems include red or yellow dogwood, decididous holly and birch stems. All three are plants that don't mind a little pruning to sacrifice in the name of holiday design.  Some less common plants found in the garden are corkscrew willow, and Henry Lauder's Walking Stick.  If you are crafty and have some extra paint left over, any stem can be turned into a fun focal element.

Using your existing planters, some leftover greens from your live christmas tree, or evergreen trimmings from your own backyard, you can make these decorations with little extra purchases.  Add additional holiday decor such as ornaments, strings of beads or twinkle lights for an evening display.  Spruce tops can be purchased to give some height to your planters and for volume.

So if you feel like the clock is ticking a little too fast, winterize your existing planters holiday style.  You can put off lugging it to the garage and deck out the stoop instead of the halls.