Enjoying Your Garden In Winter Part 2

 In my last post, I wrote about identifying the best areas to focus your winter gardens. After all, there's no point in putting lots of beautiful plants out back where you'll never notice them. Now I want to get your brain thinking about all the different things you can add to your landscape to add winter interest. You'd be surprised how many options you have. 

First is the most obvious - evergreens. However, do you realize what a large variety of evergreens there are to work with? You can have a variety of needled plants like pine and spruce or wide leaf evergreens like holly or rhododendrons. Evergreens come in lots of colors too from limey chartreuse green to blue junipers to variegated bushes. You can also get a wide variety of shapes from small, ground hugging plants to enormous hemlocks. You can achieve a lot of interest and variety with evergreens alone. 

That's just the beginning though. Many plants produce colorful berries in winter from bright red winter berry, to blue juniper to purple beauty berry. As a bonus, many birds enjoy these berries and will come to your yard for them too. Pay attention at the garden center when buying plants because many of these plants require a male and female plant to have berries. 

You can also be thinking in terms of plants that

Winter Aconites at Longwood

have lovely bark in winter. Red twig dogwood is very popular for this reason but you can also enjoy white birch trees or some ornamental cherries. 

I am not one for a lot of artificial décor in the garden but in winter, simple pieces of statuary or décor can go a long way. Pots can be filled with cut evergreens all winter. Bird baths can also attract birds when not frozen over. 

Finally, think in terms of bringing Spring early. Plants like hellebore, crocus, winter aconite and witch hazel can bloom as early as February and bring the first taste of spring. Last March I was really impressed with how lovely the outside landscaping looked at Longwood Gardens and there's no reason you can't have some of those plants yourself. 

Is that enough to get your creativity flowing? You too can have a lovely winter garden in your own yard and escape the winter blues. Feel free to share any of your winter growing tips in the comments below. 

DIY A Basic Fresh Evergreen Centerpiece

Nothing says traditional Christmas centerpiece like fresh evergreens. The options for crafting a fresh evergreen centerpiece are limitless so this post will focus on the basics. Once you have that down, you can experiment with loads of colors and materials.

What you'll need:
1. Waterproof container
2. Wet floral foam (dry foam is just for silk flowers)
3.  Floral Tape, wire or glue to attach foam to container.
4. At least two types of evergreens, preferably 3. I prefer a short needle spruce or fir, a long needle pine and something fun like cyprus or holly.
5. Ribbon
6. Taper Candles if you want them.
7. Pine cones and real or fake berries
8. Sharp pruners
9. Leaf Shine (optional)


First, attach the foam to the container. It's ok to use a sharp knife to cut the foam down to the size you need. I fi
nd tape is the easiest method to use. Then thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly soak the foam.

Second, and this is important, if you want to use taper candles you must put them in now. Be careful because you really only get one chance to put the candles in strait and even. Large, multiple holes in the foam will cause it to fall apart.

Third, use greens around the bottom to outline the shape of centerpiece you want. Be sure to strip the needles off the stem where it will go into the foam. The needles can rip up the foam. Then fill in completely with evergreens. You should not be able to see any foam when you're done putting in greens.

If you're using leaf shine (available at craft stores) now is the time to use it. It improves the appearance of your greens and can lengthen their shelf life.

Fourth, add your decorations! I made two simple bows to put on each side. I also wired pine cones and artificial berries to add color and texture. You can also add fresh flowers of course but they won't last as long as the greens will.

This can be a hard skill to learn. I've literally created hundreds of them. Be patient, practice and don't demand perfection of yourself. It should be fun! Merry Christmas!

Toddler Proof Christmas Decorating Part 2

Last week I wrote about how to enjoy beautiful Christmas decorating even if you have young children in the house. This week, I want to focus in on the ultimate Christmas decoration - the tree. We've all heard of or experienced a pet or child related Christmas tree disaster. While I can't make any guarantees, I will share what's worked well for us.

First, a smaller tree might help if you have a younger toddler. In our old home, we had a really small living room so we would buy a fresh, four foot tree and tie it to the top of a side table. We then put a small skirt over the stand and the rope and it looked lovely and was, for the most part, out of our daughter's reach.

If you love a full size tree, as I do, then you can tie it to the wall in the back to help prevent the tree from being pulled over. While the tree is up, you can't see it at all. When the tree is done, there is just a very small nail that no one ever notices.

Second, many writers suggest that if you have pets or children, then you should buy a tree with soft needles (assuming you're buying fresh, if you like artificial trees then this won't apply). However, I see things differently. It's a pain to decorate but if you use a fresh tree with very prickly needles - like a spruce tree - will act as a deterrent to the smaller inhabitants of your home. 

Third, everyone knows to put the fragile ornaments at the top of your tree out of the kids reach. Be sure to affix them firmly so if the tree is shaken for any reason the ornaments stay put. Also, be sure to have plenty of unbreakable ornaments around the bottom of the tree to keep your kids distracted from the ones higher up.

Finally, keep a sense of humor and remember that this is your kids home too. Even as perfectionist as I can be, last year I was fine with my daughter pulling ornaments off and playing with them. As long as she left the lights alone, we were fine with her "messing it up".

I know some people put gates or fences around their tree to keep the kids away but I never liked that idea. It takes up too much space, it looks bad and it sends the message to the kids that Christmas is hands off. However, every home is different and you've gotta do what works for you.

Also, I should mention that safety is crucial. Be sure to use relatively new lights that have less or no heat and won't start a fire. Keep all open flames well away from your tree.

How do you keep your Christmas tree beautiful? Be sure to post your tips in the comments below.

Abigail and Jason January 2017

This past weekend I has the privilege of being a bridesmaid in my friend Abbie's wedding. She also gave me the opportunity to arrange her flowers. She really wanted an elegant, winter look without any kind of allusion to the holidays we just passed. Here is what we came up with...

 

The most important thing is the bride's bouquet. You can see my friend Abbie holding it and I also include the other shot so you can see the special wrap I did around the handle. It's all about the details so this bouquet has blush pink roses, dark purple phaleonopsis orchids, dusty miller, white alstromeria, blue thistle, white statis and evergreens. More complex than my bouquets usually are, I think these flowers look great together.

Here is one of the bridesmaid bouquets. Very similar the the bride's bouquet but without orchids and smaller overall. 

And here you see the assorted wrist corsages and boutonnieres I put together. I love the dainty evergreen with the small spray roses. The blue thistle makes for a more modern look for the guys. To coordinate with the bride's bouquet, I did a special orchid boutonniere for the groom. 

How to Create the Perfect Evergreen Decorations Part 2

The first Christmas in a new home means figuring out how to do decorations. It can be very easy to get into a decorating rut: the tree always goes in the same corner, the nativity is placed on the same table and so forth. So this year feels like a clean slate for me, which is fun. On the other hand, I didn't want to go crazy and set the bar too high for future years. Here is what I came up with:

The window boxes where a gift from my father in law who is great at building things from wood. They were installed last month so this is the first thing I've ever put in them. Seriously, if you're going to do window boxes, you've gotta put some evergreen in them. It's not just for Christmas either, you can keep greens and pine cones out all winter and it looks great.

First, fill in with evergreens, keeping in mind the height and width you want. I didn't want to block the view out the window so I kept it short. You'll definitely want to use at least two different kinds of evergreen - typically a short needled fir and a long needled pine. I also added holly. The greens should completely cover the dirt underneath.

Second, add any ribbon, berries, sticks or pine cones that you have on hand. I've been loving burlap which will look great all winter. Pretty, huh?









Making your own wreaths is a bit hard core. It really takes time to wire that all together. If you're a purist like me and are determined to make your own, then you really need to check out a few youtube videos on how to do it. It's not that complicated but you've gotta see video to really get it. Alternatively, you could always buy the $8 wreath at Walmart and then decorate it yourself. The one I did here is a mixture of douglas fir, white pine and holly. I then added burlap ribbon, pine cones and artificial berries. I love real berries but with a toddler, I don't feel it's safe.

Pinterest gave me an idea for a porch light swag which was a snap to make. If you've never worked with evergreen before, swags are the place to start. You can do it!

Finally, you got to have a real tree. We had a blast discovering a local tree farm (just 5 minutes away!) and cutting our own tree (ok, Brian did all of that). My daughter is almost two and loved putting ornaments on. I'd love to hear about your evergreen projects and family traditions in the comments below!

How To Create The Perfect Evergreen Decorations Part 1

 Even after years of retail work, and seeing all of the materialism and consumerism it can entail, I still love the holidays. Singing carols, giving gifts, baking and so much more make December just fabulous. Every year, I also just love decorating, especially with fresh evergreens. The pictures in this post are from our old home last year.

1. Pine Roping is a favorite for me. It's classic, beautiful and very affordable. If you're made of money, you can go with cedar roping but I think the pine looks great and costs much less.

2. Containers can be so beautiful filled with a mix of fresh evergreens, red berries, and pine cones. Most gardeners have containers lying around unused in the winter. Put them to good use!

3. Who can resist a beautiful wreath? It's not hard to make your own with a wire frame and a good mix of greens, pine cones and a pretty bow. Check out youtube for some great how to videos on making your own wreath.

4. Of course, you've gotta have  a great, fresh tree. Our old house was so small, we could only get a small tree. I think it was really cute with pretty ribbon, lights and a very eclectic mix of ornaments that really represent our family. I can't wait to get a large, full size tree for our new living room!

5. When you think about decorating with fresh evergreens, maybe the first thing you think of is a beautiful centerpiece. I'm not going to lie, these are difficult to make yourself. As someone who not only has made hundreds of them, but has tried to teach others how to make them, I know. However, you can find them at any local florist and some grocery stores.



That's a look back at last year. After I get the new place decorated, I'll be sure to post pictures of that as well. Hopefully, this post will get you excited and inspired to make your own home beautiful and festive this holiday season.