December Holidays - Dress them with Green

Ferris soaking up some December sun or dreaming of Christmas!

December is a busy month. What to do first? Decorating and planting are at the top of any gardener’s list. Relaxing would be nice too, so try to work it in.

Decorate!

During the December holidays it is your choice to deck the entire house or to focus on areas like the front door, entry and main living areas. 

Do you go for fresh or artificial greenery, maybe a combination of the two? How about adding live plantings that will transition into the New Year?

For fresh greenery, garden retailers and many grocery stores sell Christmas trees, wreaths and attractive bundles of assorted greenery.

Christmas tree lots often have a box of trimmed cuttings that are free for the taking; just ask first. Use them for indoor displays or containers that are sitting outside looking forlorn with dead foliage from the summer.

When making garlands, swags or wreaths for indoor decorating, set the stems in room-temperature water for a few hours before making the display. 

Use a hand pruner to make diagonal cuts through the stems, and then gently crush the exposed end - this will help with water uptake. Set the stems back in the water for a few hours before making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assemble a fresh green arrangement using an assortment of aromatic eucalyptus, cedar, pine, juniper or balsam. Add fresh or faux white, red or pink berry branches for color and pine cones for texture. Vase arrangements double as beautiful, seasonal centerpieces. 

Try your hand at creating a seasonal outdoor winter container or porch pot in a container, window box, or urn with fresh or artificial greens and extras. They generally last for several weeks over the winter.  

Place containers outside near an entryway, patio or anywhere they can be seen from indoors. 

To hold everything in place, add sand or soil into the empty container. Next, add taller branches (red or yellow twigged dogwood work well), willow, etc. Then layer shorter greens of juniper, holly, fir or more pine. Allow some branches to spill over the container.

Finish outdoor containers by adding seasonal pine cones, dried flowers, berries or lotus pods (artificial is fine). Add bright or glittered ornaments, bows and lights to make it more festive.

Indoor Plants -

The traditional holiday plants like poinsettias, amaryllis, cyclamen and rosemary are never out of style and they look jolly placed around the house. 

This holiday, mix it up with your own combination dish garden planting made with houseplants combined with seasonal plants. They also make attractive centerpieces. They are truly conversation starters.

Just like planting an outdoor container, consider the same general rules for a mixed holiday dish garden: thriller (tall), filler (round out the middle), and spiller (edging). 

 

Or toss out the rules and let your creative side make the rules. Mix up the leaf shapes and complement the color scheme which is easy with so many red, white, green and variegated green indoor and seasonal plants available. 

Often plants can be placed in the basket or container and not directly planted (much easier like the plants in the white metal basket).

If planting into one container, choose one that drains if possible. If not available, on the bottom place an inch or so of fine pebbles and charcoal (helps with drainage and absorbs odors). 

Fresh potting soil with a bit of slow release granular fertilizer will keep the plant happy well into the New Year.

Use a container from your cache, a lined basket or anything you have on hand.

Choose or purchase your plants and place them carefully in the container to see how they look. Decision time — you may need to plant more than one container with the pretty seasonal plants available. Try to choose plants with similar water and light needs (read the tag for this information).

Plants to consider include Norfolk Island pine, lemon cypress, anthuriums, euphorbia, arrowhead plant, ivy, silver lace fern, coleus, cyclamen, poinsettia, holly, kalanchoe, peace lily, pothos, and many more. A succulent dish garden works well too, choose vibrant colors, leaf shapes and rosettes.

Add pine cones or ornaments for more holiday cheer. Once planted, water it carefully and finish with decorative moss. 

The planted dish garden will grow quickly, so if plants get too crowded after a few months, the plants can be carefully lifted and divided and planted individually into its own container. 

More Ideas Below - 

 

A dish garden I planted a few years ago, all plants were planted in the soil

From a garden center, individual plants were placed in the container

A porch pot of greens planted in soil and sand to keep in place, plus festive accessories

Independent garden centers often sell seasonal and pot filler greens 

 

A lovely artificial green wreath with silver sprayed pine cones decorates any front door

Layered greens look great in these welcoming outdoor urns

 

Resources -

Keep your Greenery Fresh During the Holiday Season  video

Wreath Making Basics video 

Outdoor Winter Containers video