A Little Twist on a Holiday Planter

Come mid-November, it’s always nice to switch things up on the front porch of our Victorian-era house and add a little flourish of seasonal greenery to make things look festive for the holidays. 

A wooden railing that runs along the length of the porch would tend to hide a typical arrangement of seasonal evergreens in an urn, so I have learned to get creative and use a metal plant stand that has some height. 

Step 1

I purchased this plant stand years ago through Pier One, but a number of retailers sell similar items for outdoor floral displays.

An exposed plastic pot could look tacky, so I began this project by tucking a square of burlap into the metal basket (if you don't have burlap, an old coconut liner will do).

Next, I filled a plastic pot with potting soil. The soil need not be fresh and can easily be left over from your summer containers. Its only purpose is to secure your evergreens in place. Moisten the soil, so when the ground freezes, it will provide an extra means of securing the stems of your evergreens.

Place the plastic pot into the stand and tuck in the raw edges of the burlap around the top to keep things looking neat and tidy.

I always have quite a few holiday containers to fill, so I try to forage as much greenery as possible from the yard and the adjacent woodlot. I harvest responsibly so that I don't damage the trees or shrubs I am cutting.

In the shady part of the garden, I am lucky to have quite a number of yews. Every fall they get a good haircut which leaves me with quite a bit of raw material for my winter arrangements. But even with the yew, I don't have quite enough evergreen boughs to fill all my containers, so I also buy mixed bunches of greenery from the grocery store. 

Step 2

As with any nicely designed container planting, I recommend using "spillers, fillers and thrillers" to create a pleasing arrangement of greenery and berries. 

Begin with the "spillers" that will drape down over the edges of your basket. For this, I suggest long pieces of cedar, pine or juniper. These evergreens have curved stems that allow them to hang down gracefully over the rim of the arrangement.

Step 3

 Next, it's on to the "fillers" that will give the arrangement the fullness you want. For this, you can use almost any type of evergreen. I used pieces of yew, cedar and fir. To add a bit of height, I used a few pine boughs and some Dogwood branches that I snipped from the garden.

Step 4

The last step is to add some colorful accents. I began with some Magnolia branches and some pine cones.

For a final pop of color, I used some red berries. If you are lucky enough to find them, fresh Winterberries are a terrific option. In this case, I used some faux Winterberries I had on hand.

 Here's the finished holiday plant stand with my faithful helper alongside.

One last consideration with this type of holiday arrangement–it's top heavy. A strong winter wind could topple the whole thing over. To balance things, I placed a heavy cast iron figure of a squirrel on the base of the stand. If you don't have an object like this, a second smaller arrangement at the bottom of the stand might be nice.

Blooper reel!

Illuminating Christmas

Happy holidays everyone! The two younger boys and I have been having fun playing in the white stuff. 

Despite what the seasonal calendar says, winter arrived a little over 2 weeks ago with a snow storm that hit its peak right at the 5 pm rush hour. We live in a deep river valley with a rollercoaster-ride-of-a-hill on one side and a steep slope that would be perfect for sledding on the other. Cars don't fair well on either of the two hills when there is a storm. Our street was a parking lot for hours. No one could get out of the valley.

Other than shovelling, my spare time in the weeks leading up to Christmas was filled with wrapping gifts, baking and decorating for the holidays.  I thought I would share a couple of the wreaths I made this year. Both make use of strings of little fairy (LED) lights. 

The start of the first decorating project was a plain evergreen wreath from the grocery store. 

To illuminate it, I used two strings of lights from the dollar store. Here's how I put it together:  

Step 1: I turned the wreath over to the wire frame at the back. Then I passed the first string of lights through an opening in the greenery to the front of the wreath. I left the string of lights hang loosely at the front of the wreath for now. Then I turned the wreath back over and attached the first battery pack to the wire frame with some green florist's wire. 

Step 2: Now we are going to attach the second string of lights in the same manner. It is critical to balance out the back of any wreath so it will sit flat to your door.  With a fresh piece of wire,  I attached the second battery pack on the opposite side of the wreath. 

Step 3: I turned the wreath over to the front and roughly placed my strings of lights in amongst the foliage. I ran the first string of lights clockwise around the wreath and the second string of lights counter-clockwise. 

Once I was happy with the placement of my lights, I used some florists wire to hold them in place. To do this, I used loops of wire that I twisted closed on the back of the wreath.

Step 4: If your wreath was as basic as mine, you may want to augment it with more greenery, berries, pinecones and a bow. That's just what I did next.

Here's the first finished wreath. You can't see the glow of the lights really well in the daytime, but at night the they shine nicely.

One important thing to note: These cheap LED light strings are for indoor use only. I have a covered porch and a screen door with a glass front, so I was able to get away with using indoor lights. If your door is exposed, this type of light string may or may not short out in wet weather.

For the wreath I made for the back door, I used three strings of lights. There are two LED sets ($2.50 each from Walmart) and a string of larger stars ($5 from the Real Canadian Superstore).

This time the 3 battery packs were placed in thirds by dividing the wreath circumference into three equal parts. Again, it is critical to balance out the back of the wreath so it will sit flush to the door.

Step 1: The first step is to attach the two strings of mini-lights. (The third string of lights will go on later after the greenery is attached. If you try this, make sure you space the battery packs so you leave room for the third battery pack that you will add later).

To work my lights through the maze of grapevines, I used a pencil and poked it into the the vines to create a gap. Then I worked each of the lights up through those gaps. Once the pencil is removed, the gaps disappear.

Step 2: Next add your greenery to the front of the wreath, some berries and a bow. (Tuck the greenery right into the vines. Loops of florist's wire can then be added to hold it securely in place.)

Step 3: Turn your wreath over to the back and attach the third battery pack for the larger string of lights with two loops of wire. Flip the wreath back to the front and roughly place the lights using the greenery to conceal the wire for the lights. Using more loops of florist's wire secure this final string of lights to the wreath.

If you are having trouble disguising some of the wires, add a few more pieces of greener to conceal them.

I am especially happy with the way this one turned out. 

Again, these light strings are for indoor use only. The back door has screen door with a glass front, so I was able to get away with using indoor lights. If your door is exposed, these type of lights might short out in wet weather. 

Outdoor strings have larger, more weatherproof battery packs, but it's hard to work with the larger sized packs. As an experiment I made a wreath for the back gate using strings of indoor LED lights. It held up remarkably well and shone every evening through the holiday season.

Have fun decorating for the holidays!

Paper Rose Holiday Ornaments

I promise not to stray too far away from my blog's usual focus on gardening, but it's the holidays, and it's fun to do little celebratory projects.

These little rose ornaments are easy to do and they'd make great last minute gifts.

Here's what you need to make your own flower ornaments:

Materials and supplies you need to do this project:

• clear glass Christmas balls
• paper roses
• sprigs of seeded eucalyptus
• scissors
• wire cutters

• low heat glue gun and glue sticks
• ribbon, decorative string or metal ornament hanger

Just a few words about the materials in this project: Glass ornaments can be found in a variety of shapes at craft stores. I bought round balls and glass hearts.

For the flowers I chose roses, but you could use any type of paper flowers.

Paper roses can be found at craft stores, but I have also found them at the Dollar Store for a much cheaper price. It pays to shop around!

Step 1: We are going to begin this project by making rose buds and individual petals.

Moving around the circumference of a paper rose, gently push back on the outer row of petals until the rose and the row of petals become separated. Snip off the wire stem and set aside the rose bud. Altogether you will need 6 or more rose buds.

Don't discard the outer row of rose petals and leaves!

Separate the leaves and rose petals by gently pulling them apart. Cut the two sections into individual rose petals and leaves.

Step 2: Remove the top of your glass ornament.

Take your wire cutters and snip away the stems of 3 or 4 roses as cleanly and neatly as you can.

Fill the ornament with roses and the petals you made in step 1. (Tip: I glued a couple of roses back to back so they'd way always be facing out from inside the ornament.)

Place the top back on the ornament. Now you are ready to decorate the exterior.

Step 3: Put a dab of hot glue on the back of a rose and attach it to the top front of your ornament. Flip the ornament over and attach another flower on the top back.

Step 4: Centre two more roses in between the first two flowers.

Step 5: Tuck two of the rose buds you made earlier in between the roses at the top of the ornament to fill in the gaps. 

Place one last rose bud just below the centre rose to create a bit of a cascade down the front of the ornament. Repeat on the back, adding a bud just below the centre rose. 

Finish with a couple of green leaves at the sides of each bud.

The final step is the most finicky and involves working with small pieces of Seeded Eucalyptus. 

Seeded Eucalyptus is fairly easy to find. I found this bunch at the grocery store, but it is also commonly available at most florists. 

I fastened the stems of my Eucalyptus together with an elastic band and hung them to dry, as I plan to use the Eucalyptus for other projects. For this ornament project however, we are going to use just the seeds and not the foliage. The seeds of the Eucalyptus are so dry I think you should be able to use them right away, without taking the time to dry bunches of Eucalyptus first.

Step 6: Cut a large branch of seeds into small sections that are about 1/4" long (on the lower right hand side of my step 6 picture there is an example of these small stems). 

Touch the seed's stem to the end of your glue gun to pick up the tiniest amount of hot glue. 

Tuck the seeds in among the paper roses.

Use some ribbon to create a hanger, or even easier, attach an ornament hook.

These ornaments would make a great stocking stuffer, hostess gift or present for your child's teacher.

Put your ornament in a pretty box and use more flowers instead of a bow. 

(I hot glued my flowers onto my gift box.)

I am sure any recipient would be thrilled with this heartfelt gift.

Jingle Berry Branches

December is here and it's time to think about decorating for the holidays ahead. Today I am sharing a simple, cheerful little project: jingle berry branches.

To make my faux berry branches you need:

• some very fine wire

• red jingle bells

• wire cutters

• some bare branches (from your garden or foraged respectfully)

• blue ribbon for a bow (optional)

Cut short lengths of wire and pass one end of the wire through the bell loop. 

Twist the wire on your bell closed.

Arrange the branches a pitcher or vase of your choice. This will make it easier to 

determine where to place your "berries".

Loop the wire around the branches a couple of times and snip off any excess. Press any sharp ends of the wire inward with your thumb nail, so you don't end up with thorny berry branches.

I couldn't resist adding a few little bluebirds when I was done.

And there you have it! Festive berry branches that jingle.

I also made an evergreen version. 

To make the evergreen arrangement you need:

• assorted evergreen boughs (from your garden, foraged respectfully or purchased from the store)

• red dogwood branches

• red and gold jingle bells

• wire cutters

• very fine wire

• pine cones

• low heat glue gun & glue sticks

• shish kabob skewers

• faux red berry branches

• red ribbon for a bow (optional)

Fill your the pitcher or vase with fresh water and arrange your evergreen boughs. (Tips: Try to strip away any evergreen needles that will be sitting below the surface of the water. This will help the water stay fresher longer. Cedar and pine branches spill nicely, while fur boughs add an upright element to the arrangement.)

Insert the red dogwood branches, which can be cut from the garden or bought from a florist or store.

Add pinecone pics to the arrangement. (These can be pricey to purchase, so I make my own.) 

How to make the pinecone pics:

Create snow by brushing some white latex paint on the tips of your pinecones. 

Set aside and allow to dry.

The wooden sticks are just shish kabob skewers purchased at the Dollar Store.

Put a generous blob of hot glue at the bottom centre of your pinecone. Take a shish kabob skewer and twirl it in the blob of hot glue to coat the end of the stick. Shift the stick into its proper upright position and hold it for a minute until the glue sets.  

Use fine wire to tie the red "berry" bells to the evergreen bows. Use the same wire to tie gold jingle bells to the dogwood branches. (Note: These bells were one size up from the bells I used to create the previous jingle berry arrangement.)

Finally add some faux or real berry branches to the arrangement for that extra bit of holiday cheer.

Keep the water in your pitcher or vase fresh and the arrangement should last for a couple of weeks.

If you have a minute, check out the DIY holiday ornaments on my home page.