5 FREE WINTER CONTAINER DESIGNS

There is no Christmas tree in my house. That, of course, was not the plan. The plan was to be ahead of the game this year, but once again it's the last minute and nothing is done. I'm tempted to just skip the tree at this point, but we did that last year and I feel like skipping a tree one year is fine, but skipping it two years in a row is positively scroogelike.

But the outdoor decorations are finished so that's something. And I'm happy to report that I met the challenge I set forth for myself to not spend a penny on any holiday containers and use only what I already had or what I foraged. I did buy some garland at Costco for the pergolas, but that puts the entire budget for everything I did outside at $30. I'm calling that a win.

The trough planter by the garage is big enough that moving it without removing the soil would be impossible. And because there are two clematis in there (they are group 3 types so they'll be cut back in spring, but for now I've taken the foliage and tucked it behind the holiday decorations) the soil can't be removed. Really simple decorations here: dogwood and evergreens just stuck in the soil with birch logs from the big tree that fell in our woods just leaning against the garage and a simple garland wrapped in lights.

The urn in the middle of the garden got a similar simple treatment. The snow came so quickly after I finished it that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it before it was covered in the white stuff. 

The large planter by the front door got an unusual treatment that I thought played off the ring in the window box. Again, no sooner did I finish it, than a big snowfall did some of its own decorating. The small lit rings are metal rings from the inside of rotted wagon wheels that I wrapped in tiny LED wire light strings. (You can see what I did with those rings in summer here.) And yes, there is a sad and formerly lovely rosemary plant in a pot next to it that was forgotten when I brought plants in, so now it serves as sculpture of sorts.

Of course you've seen the window box already.

I had to throw in a picture of our special 'Hudsonii' spruce, planted in honor of our first Newfoundland Hudson. It's the only thing that gets colored lights and it looked so perfect with the snowfall against the otherwise black-and-white winter landscape. 

I also very quickly did the container at the office. I hate to admit it, but I really threw this one together with what I had left around and in about 15 minutes, so it isn't quite as neat as I would like. The trellis lives in another container there during the summer but I thought it added a nice touch. The big ornaments sort of look like they are waiting to hatch in their little nest.

So there you have it: five winter containers all done without spending a penny. There is actually one other small pot I did on our garden bench but I didn't manage to snap a picture before it was mostly covered in snow. I'll shoot one when it emerges.

Where are you at with your holiday decorating?

A WINTER CONTAINER CHALLENGE

One of my favorite projects to do this time of year is decorate outside with winter containers. In the past I've used a combination of found and purchased materials. I always cut my own red twig dogwood because the even though the dogwood you can buy is brighter, straighter and, by all accounts, prettier, it's also incredibly expensive. I also usually find greens as well, be it from trees in the yard or by raiding the cart full of branches cut from trees at Home Depot, which are free for the taking, but I occasionally supplement that stash with fancy evergreens purchased in bundles.

In the past, though, I've purchase a lot of other elements of the outdoor containers. I bought birch branches a few years ago that I save from year to year. I have also bought huge bundles of beautiful eucalyptus which really do make for stunning displays. I've purchases giant pinecones and faux berries, all of which I've saved. I'll be honest, buying some materials helps make really stunning displays and it is certainly easier and less time consuming than foraging for materials

This year, though, I'm not going to spend a penny on outdoor containers. I'm looking at it as a challenge. I'll allow myself to use items I've saved from year to year, but I'm not going to spend any money on anything that goes in the containers.

I spent a good amount of time over the weekend collecting materials, probably about four hours. My grandma's house has foundation plantings (perhaps come kind of arborvitae) that have gone nuts, so I spent a lot of time pruning the worst of them. That netted a lot of material for containers and a fair amount of dead wood to be disposed of. I also went to one of my secret dogwood gathering spots to collect what I could. Unfortunately I didn't come close to getting the amount I needed and I'll have to go back to a spot I found last year for more. 

All of that led to a rather ridiculous scene in my car.

With all foraging and a case of frozen fingers (I cannot find my winter gloves; where do they go every summer?) I only got as far as doing two containers for a neighbor and, to be honest I was in a bit of a rush and chasing daylight. Still, I think they turned out OK and the neighbors will enjoy them. The design is pretty simple: a thick bundle of dogwood circled by 'Limelight' hydrangea flowers as the centerpiece, with prunings from grandma's house and a bit of some kind of pine (also from grandma's) to fill in.

There are many more outdoor containers to decorate. And with my found-materials only pledge, I'll be testing my creative mettle. 

Do you do winter container designs?

FRIDAY FINDS: SNOW + EASTER EDITION

Winter came back. I knew it would. I knew that this mild winter and early spring that we were blessed with was just too good to be true, but mentally I had moved on. The end of the week brought us horrible weather and this morning the trees were shimmering with ice on their branches and every sign of live in the garden has been covered up with a blanket of snow. Other signs of life became apparent in the form of tracks in the snow. There appears to have some kind of wildlife party on our patio last night.

If you can make it through these spring weather events, both mentally and physically, the pain doesn't last for too long. The sun has heat to it these days and quickly melts what's fallen. And a little extra water in the garden isn't a bad thing.

I shall plod along with my seed starting to get my garden fix, as clearly nothing is happening out there this weekend. But thoughts of spring are firmly in my mind.

I just got the April issue of House Beautiful  and was completely captivated with an entry designed by Christopher Maya that featured a de Gournay wallpaper called Temple Newsam. It was a mural style and I desperately wanted to show it to you, but I the pictures aren't online at this point. So I fell into the de Gournay website and holy smokes there is some amazingly beautiful stuff there. I shudder to think of the cost.

'Portobello' on India tea paper

'Japanese Garden' from the Japanese Korean collection

'Portman' on custom blue silk

It's worth flipping through. By the way, I don't know that I would have been as taken with that entry if it weren't spring. This is why I'd make a lousy interior designer (well, in addition to the fact that I have no training): I'm far too influenced by seasonal whims. In spring I want pastels and verdant greens, in summer I want tropical colors, in winter I like a calm palette.

Speaking of spring, I'm hosting Easter for our family. I'm not a great hostess, but I enjoy having Easter at our house. It's a low-pressure holiday (not like Thanksgiving or Christmas) and its a good excuse to buy a lot of pretty flowers. I'm also not a great flower arranger, but I like looking for arrangement inspiration online. I'm wildly in love with this bright bouquet full of spring flowers from Floret Flowers.

Anytime multiple gardeners fall down a major slope whilst gardening is considered extreme gardening in my book. But it was so worth it.

This is a Garden Rant classic and I agree almost wholeheartedly with it. I make an exception if someone were to say they wanted to plant something really stupid that we know, without question, will be invasive. In my area that would be something like garlic mustard, which would infect the entire neighborhood in two years.

Here are some fun seed starting tips that are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Because really, let's not get too serious about this seed business. It is supposed to be fun.

That's it for this week. Sometime between now and Sunday I have to figure out how to cook a leg of lamb. I did find a recipe in Julia Child's The Way to Cook. I'm not a great cook because I play fast and loose with recipes (and yet somehow I'm a pretty good baker, I cannot explain it), but there are two chefs whose recipes I've decided will never fail you if you just follow them to the letter: Julie and Ina. My sister-in-law and I have a saying: In Julia we trust. So I'm going to trust her to not let me ruin a very expensive piece of meat.

Do you have Easter plans for the weekend? Or do you expect to get in the garden at all?

This was the scene on the way home last night. From my series of photos on Instagram.

UNSEASONABLE WEATHER LEADS TO GARDENER'S GUILT

I have rarely felt a case of the gardener guilts in mid-December. Gardeners are allowed to go whole hog on the holidays because, for most of us, there are few gardening tasks to be tackled at this time of year. The garden has been put to bed for the winter and it's too early to plant seeds for next spring's garden.

The creek through the back yard is full up and flowing fast.

But as most people in the northern half of the country have noticed, this is not a typical winter, so far, at least. We've had a couple inches of rain in the last few days and the temperatures for more than a week have been stuck in the 50-degree range. The normal temperature this time of year is a high of 35 degrees and a low of 19.

I never did get around to cutting down the monarda this fall, a job I like to do to keep the reseeding to a minimum. Look how green the grass is!

The ground is not yet frozen (or really, even thinking about it). The grass is greener than it usually is in early June. And the creek through our back yard is flowing at the same rate we see during big spring thaws. I can't say I'm unhappy about any of it. Winter will come soon enough and there will be plenty of it.

It actually is pretty, just strange to see it this time of year.

The other day I was walking through the back yard and noticed a nasty weed in the garden. Without a thought, I just leaned over and pulled it out. Satisfied with the full root now in my hand, I came to the crazy realization that I'm certain it is the first weed I've ever pulled in December. Since then, I've noticed many other weeds in the garden standing out as bright green in a see of brown, all waiting to be pulled or thrive where they are. I should be out there pulling them.

Of course I'm busy with other things: Christmas shopping and baking and wrapping and decorating and partying. But as I was doing those things this weekend, I had that nagging guilt that sneaks up on a gardener who is neglecting a less-than-thrilling job that needs doing.

Just a little sneak peek of one of the containers.

As I finished up the outdoor decorations (photos to follow when it dries out a little) this weekend, I couldn't help but think that if I put down the garland and instead put on my gardening gloves and got out there with my soil knife, I'd be a big leg up on the spring gardening duties. Oh well, old habits died hard.

How's the weather where you are? Any gardening jobs that you really should be doing but have been pushing off for more seasonal duties?

MASTER CLASS ON WINTER CONTAINER CONSTRUCTION

I'm a late Christmas decorator. At least it seems late, since I usually finish it up a couple weeks before Christmas, which is apparently late these days. But I like to take advantage of milder weather to do my outdoor containers, which is easily my favorite holiday project.

I'm busy gathering materials now. I picked up some $6 wreaths at Home Depot on Black Friday. They look like $6 wreaths, which is to say rather plain and uninspired, but by the time I'm done filling them out with other greens and nice bows, you'll never know. I also cut a mound of red twig dogwood over the weekend and I'm hoping to score the branch cut-offs from people's Christmas trees at a few places like I did last year.

Deborah Silver photo

As usual, the best place for inspiration when it comes to holiday containers is Deborah Silver's blog, and this year she treated her readers with step-by-step articles on how those works of art come to life. I've been using foam to stick branches in for a couple years now and it makes such a difference, and not just because the soil in a lot of containers is frozen already. I highly recommend spending a little extra to get foam for containers.

The crew at Detroit Garden Works creating the bases for winter containers. Deborah Silver photo

Here are Deborah's tips:

• Constructing the base of the containers
• How to make the centerpieces
• Putting it all together

Deborah Silver photo

Of course, having a big building to do all the main work in (along with a lot of helpers) would certainly make this process easier, but one must make due with what they have.

Bleached pinecones on garland. Deborah Silver photo

I'm also loving bleached pinecones (Deborah uses some on her amazing garlands), so I'll be following this tutorial on how to do that. 

I don't have a real vision on exactly what I want to do this year, inside or out, but maybe that will make it more fun. The plan is to finish up the outside this weekend.

Do you decorate outside as well as inside?

HOLIDAY CHEER FOR OUTSIDE

My favorite holiday decorations are the ones I do outside. It's partly because they brighten up what is otherwise a pretty dreary landscape, but also because the decorations outside, particularly the containers, provide the most decorating bang for the buck.

I love how with a few collected (and some purchased) materials you can create something that is really beautiful. These containers will last all winter and I won't get sick of them, like I tend to do after a couple weeks with indoor decorations. I think they make the whole house feel more welcoming.

I took advantage of some unseasonably warm weather over the weekend to decorate three containers at home and another two at work. Although I purchased some of the materials for the containers, it would certainly be possible to create containers like these completely out of found materials (save for the lights).

I rely on evergreen boughs and dogwood twigs to fill the bulk of the container. Although I'm not a Black Friday  shopper, I swung by Home Depot Friday afternoon to pick up a couple $5 wreaths and scored an entire shopping cart full of the bottom branches of trees that people had purchased that day for free. I also collected some cedar cuttings from our own trees and purchased the rest of the evergreens: Douglas pine boughs and a small amount of incense cedar.

The dogwood twigs were harvested from my parents' yard, where they grow alongside the lane, and I purchased the silver dollar eucalyptus.

And it pains me to admit that I also purchased the birch branches. The face of the matter is that it's hard to find slim birch branches that people will allow you to harvest (for goodness sake, don't go cutting down someone's young birch tree!). And although I think you could probably take any relatively straight branch of the right diameter and paint it white for the same look, it just seemed easier to pick up some 6-foot birch branches on sale at the nursery/craft store and cut them to the size I needed.

I pilfered a trellis from one of the clematis for the urn in the center of the garden and put a "column" of red dogwood twigs in the center for some color.

I do have a few tricks that I've picked up over the years from other gardeners and designers who nicely share such tips on their blogs. I cut thick styrofoam to size for each container and, if needed, use staked pounded into the usually frozen soil below to hold it in place. Then I can easily and securely fit all the greens in and they won't budge. Here's how to do it.

I also learned a great trick from Deborah Silver to create nice bunches of branches by bundling them together around a stake and using wire ties to hold them together. That way you only have to drive the stake into the pot. You can see how I do this here (a few years ago before I discovered the foam trick).

In the large planter by the front door, I also used some extra large pine cones I've had for years.

For the window box, I used a steel ring that I had not yet "planted" in the garden for the centerpiece, along with some faux berries, saved from last year, eucalyptus and more dogwood. I wrapped lights around the ring and then stuck a whole bunch of lights at its base to give the illusion of the center of the ring glowing. I'm happy with the effect viewed from outside, but I'm positively in love with the ambiance it brings to the inside.

 There is more decorating to be done outside and certainly inside, but for now, early in the holiday season, these containers bring all the cheer I need. And they also satisfy a gardener held hostage by winter. What sort of decorations do you do outside?

A NEW PLAN FOR WARDING OFF DEER

I've whined about the deer problem in my garden many times before and there is no perfect solution. Every year I learn more in the war in combatting them and what I learned last year was that they can do major damage in winter.

Up until last year, we've had many years of mild winters. But last year we had a very cold and very snowy winter. The snow that fell early in the season never melted so it just kept piling up. That meant that the deer could not get to their usual food sources. The deer population by us has also flourished in recent years, so there is a lot of pressure on the environment to feed the herd.

Last year they ate anything they could reach, so even plants and trees that they had never shown interest in before were targeted.

And weather experts are predicting this winter will be as bad as last. So I took some extra precautions in protecting some plants.

This is not a method I've ever seen before and it is completely untested, but it's cheap, easy and easier on the eye than a lot of other protection methods.

To my knowledge, the only way to protect a plant from deer in winter is a physical barrier. If a plant also needs protection from the cold and wind, that may come in the form of burlap, but if it just needs protection from gnawing, that generally means some kind of fencing. Except deer have a knack for biting through fencing, so you can't just wrap a plant in it; you have to get the fencing away from the plant to create a gap. That means that you have to set poles in the ground.

Lots of deer fencing isn't pretty either.

So I thought as long as I had to put poles in the ground anyway, why not try something that is a little less noticeable and much less expensive.

When I was researching deer fences for the property, I learned that deer have pretty lousy sight. I also believe that deer are pretty lazy, so they usually won't work too hard for something that isn't really special, and in winter, nothing is really special (well, maybe cedar trees but they've already eaten everything 7 feet high and lower).

I created a large string "cage" around the viburnums that were munched on last winter.

So I used nylon string to create a string "fence" around specific shrubs and trees. I tied clove hitches (perhaps that should be the second in my how-to-tie-knots series) around each pole, spacing the string out about 7 or 8 inches. On some of them where the string got a little saggy, I also created a big string X on each side.

At some point I'll go back and tie a little something onto the string (ribbon, maybe) so the deer can easily see that it's there. I made sure to place the poles far enough away that a deer can't just stick its head in between the lines and reach the plant.

I made a large string "cage" around the viburnums on the east side of the property because they were hit by the deer pretty bad last year. I also made one around the new 'Mariesii' viburnum by the bird feeders (a favorite deer hangout) and around the Japanese maple, which they also did a number on last year.

Will it work? I have no idea, but I know I'd much rather look at my string cages than big fences. Only time will tell if its enough to keep the deer moving.

Do you have to protect plants from deer in winter?

GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT GARDEN CLEAN-UP

I forget how difficult it is to keep on top of photos when Daylight Savings Time ends. Seems like I'm only home when it's dark these days.

The deep freeze is scheduled to arrive this week and stick around for at least a week. Temperatures next week will struggle to break 20. In other words, it was time to get going on my garden cleanup.

Here's how I prioritize garden cleanup in the perennial garden.

1. Pots. Pots must be cleaned out (and by this I mean dumping the soil and plants out, not actually scrubbing them, which I realize you are supposed to do but I rarely get around to) and moved into the garage to get them out of the way for shoveling and to avoid damaging them.

I finished this project up Sunday and I'm feeling much better just having that done.

The Venus dogwood gets a heap of chopped up leaves over its roots. The poles will come into play later for protection from deer.

2. Leaves. I don't like tons of leaves left sitting in the garden over winter. They form a huge frozen mat that takes forever to thaw and they never break down. So I try to get as many leaves out of the garden as I can. Then I run over them with the lawn mower a couple times before bagging them with the mower. The chopped-up leaves are then either used for leaf mold (kept in a separate pile or bins), added to the compost pile or used as a winter mulch around the roots off plants I want to offer extra protection to.

These chopped up leaves are like gold to me. I'd take as many of them as I possibly could. Mr. Much More Patient has wisened up to this and has started lobbying for a fancy new riding lawn mower (that we don't need) with a huge leaf mulching/collecting attachment that he says would work so well he'd even go collect neighbors' leaves.

The main garden is mostly cut back and ready for winter.

3. Cutting back perennials. I've read plenty of articles that suggest it is better for the health of the plants to leave them standing over winter and certainly it is good for wildlife. What it is not good for is the gardener in spring. That's a lot of work added on to an already busy season.

I split it about half and half. I like to leave ornamental grasses standing as well as sedums. I will leave a few coneflowers standing for the birds and I always leave all the spent flowers on the hydrangeas. I will also leave everything that was newly planted this summer standing. And the same goes for things like clematis that shouldn't be pruned until late winter. Although I only have about half of the gardens (half of the half of the stuff I clean up) finished, this is a project that can go on as long as I can get in the gardens, so I'll probably pick it up again over the weekend and even beyond if we get a little warm spell.

Anything I can do now saves time in spring and there is never enough time in spring.

An unfortunate case of the munchies in my yard

The world outside my door appears to be frozen. Certainly nothing is growing, but I didn't expect things to be shrinking. Sadly, there are a lot of things shrinking in my yard.

The deer are starving. This winter has been so snowy and so cold with almost no relent (we're hoping for above-freezing temperatures this week which would be good for the soul and maybe, just maybe, decrease the size of the snow piles a little) that their food sources are buried or gone altogether.

Like most gardeners, I don't have a particularly good relationship with the deer, but I can't stand to see any animal suffer. What is concerning is that the size of the herds we are seeing are so much larger than in past years. Either the deer that usually hang out in the state park by our house are moving out in search of food or there are just a lot more deer. I fear it's the latter.

Not only are the deer getting even more bold (you would think the 275 pounds of dogs that live at my house would have some effect, but the deer practically laugh at them), they are eating whatever they can reach.

Unfortunately the main targets in our yard were the six arborvitaes we planted to screen the neighbor's house after we cleaned up a few dead trees in the woods. We bought Western arborvitae (Thuja plicata) Spring Grove in part because a neighbor planted several of them a few years ago and they grew quickly and were never bothered by deer even though they were planted along the road where the deer frequently stroll.

I've learned my lesson about "deer resistant" plants many times before, but I never even thought of protecting our trees for winter because they've never been touched by deer before. Usually, if the deer are going to make a meal out of something, they do it pretty early on in its time in our yard.

But now, all six of our Spring Grove arborvitaes have been "lollipopped." That is, the only foliage that remains is the top 18 inches or so. In my experience, the bottom never regrows, but the tree will probably live, but only grow foliage from the level it's at now and up. That isn't so good for when you're trying to block the view from your neighbor's kitchen window.

I'm not alone in this. The aforementioned neighbor with several Spring Groves that rapidly grew to about 20 feet tall suffered the same fate. The bottom 6 feet of his trees have been stripped.

The deer are munching on other things as well. Nothing within their reach is safe. The dwarf apple tree buried in a snow bank has ragged ends on every small branch, all nipped by deer. The same goes for the Limelight hydrangea in front (I'm not worried about this as it's destined for pruning anyway). The damage around the yard is extensive and is only likely to get worse.

That ragged end on the branch is a sure sign that a deer has been sampling.

By they way, I know so many people are buried under piles of snow so you probably don't need to see pictures of more snow. Too bad, you're getting some anyway.

These were taken Sunday, before another 6 inches fell Monday (and proceeded to blow into giant drifts). Testing paint samples on the front of the garage in fall sure looks like a great idea now, doesn't it? No one can say I haven't given the color a great deal of thought, though.

My poor meatball boxwood always gets crumpled in winter. It's hiding under there somewhere. 

Hard to believe this is what it looked like under that snow pile about 6 months ago, isn't it?

Have you noticed the wildlife in your area getting a big desperate with the crazy winter that so many of us are having this year?

Think you've got Mother Nature figured out? Think again, sucka

Since most of the country (and Canada) is in the grips of the polar vortex I'll spare you my tale of woe and the pictures from my cell phone of the thermometer on my car. School's been cancelled due to the cold for two days now and one of our buildings at work is without heat but my main concern regarding all this cold weather isn't of a personal nature, unless you count the head banging I'm likely to do when I assess the damage to the garden come spring.

There's not like getting a little over confident about the weather to have Mother Nature laugh in your face.

I've been doing my fair share of zone pushing lately. That is, planting perennials, shrubs and trees that are rated for a zone warmer than where you garden. Well, sort of. From the time I started gardening here, it has been zone 5a. A couple years ago the USDA announced a new zone map, bumping us up to 5b. I've been more than a little skeptical, particularly since I sometimes thought that even the 5a designation was optimistic, as just a bit inland it was 4b territory (and now 5a).

Anyway, as far as hardiness goes, I only really breath easy with a zone 4 plant, but often buy zone 5a plants without a lot of worry. After all I've lost far more plants to poor siting or a lack of consistent watering in the first season or the damn deer, and, well, winters just aren't like they used to be. 

Or so I thought anyway. Climate change, I told myself. Winters just don't get as cold anymore, I said. Oh sure we get a bad winter every once in a while, but that's like what, every 25 years?

The low temperature (not windchill) here Monday night was somewhere around -20 and that is a problem. The USDA hardiness map for zone 5b is -10 to -15. Zone 4b is rated for -20 to -25. 

So what's a gardener to do? Well, not much at this point, frankly. Fortunately we have a pretty good blanket of snow on the ground. If that wasn't there I'd really be panicking. I'd be happier (from a gardening standpoint anyway) if we had gotten some of the several inches of snow that fell in the states south and west of us so that blanket would be even thicker. 

In fall I did some protection of the plants I deemed to be most precious or most suseptable to winter damage from weather or critters. A couple of new small trees including a gingko and a Japanese Maples got cages stuffed about halfway with leaf mulch. 

This is what the Venus dogwood looked like until the week (pay no attention to the pile of branches and burlap it was about to be dressed with). 

But there's one tree that has me particularly worried. It's a Venus dogwood and I wrote about it last April and a few months later I was planting the biggest one I could get a mail order nursery to send me. I wrote about it when I was considering buying it and even then I admitted that it was a risk since it's probably a zone 6a plant, even though some descriptions said it was hardy to zone 5b.

I really babied that tree last summer and in fall it got a nice thick layer of leaf mulch at its base and a full deer fence enclosure. But when I saw the forecast for this week, I thought it would be worth trying to do a bit more to save it.

I grabbed all the extra pine boughs I had from making my winter containers and stacked them  up at the base of the tree plus around the deer fence. Then I wrapped the entire thing in burlap. It was important that I didn't do any of that any earlier because the snow piled up at its base should help it more than anything I can do and if I had burlapped it sooner, it would have missed the snow.

I also piled more branches around the new gingko and japanese maple as well as put a bit of burlap around the gingko. None of it is pretty, that's for sure, and it's not exactly the look I was going for out the living room winter, but I'm happy to give up my winter view for beauty the rest of the year.

The little Japanese maple just got a few branches stuck in its cage.

I have no idea if my last ditch efforts will make a difference and it will be a long wait to find out. I figure it will be May before I really know the extent of the damage. Doesn't May seem like a lifetime away right now?

How's your garden faring through the polar vortex?