Deck The Halls And Window boxes With Winter's Garden Bounty
Gardeners need never buy commercially made winter bouquets or greenery for decorating their homes during the holidays. This was brought home to me while browsing through several nurseries and garden outlets for Poinsettias. Along with Poinsettias there were wreaths and swags ranging in price from ten to fifty dollars and even more. Instead of paying hefty prices, use your own plant material.
When I began my garden I planted, not only for year -round interest outdoors, I also planted for a good selection of varied plant materials for arrangements in all seasons. For winter creations we save many of our pruning chores for early winter to insure a plentiful supply of fresh material to work with.
Amongst my choices in broad-leaved evergreens are Eleagnus, 'Gilt Edge,' with green leaves and edges that turn positively gold, the shiny bright gold spotted leaves of Acuba or one of its cultivars with gold blotched centers and variegated boxwood. Several years ago I admired a small leafed, silver edged bit of greenery in a wreath. It turned out to be variegated box. The creator of the wreath let me take cuttings of her shrub and I now have a small hedge of this lovely evergreen. With its tiny leaves it makes a perfect contrast with the broader leafed plants. Other gold and silver edged evergreens are Euonymus 'Emerald' n' Gold' and Euonymus 'Silver Queen.'
Hollies come in a variety of shapes and colors but the standard English Holly is a must for holiday decorating with its red berries adding cheer to both house and garden. My husband topiaries our English Holly in winter into a giant cone. so we have plenty of berried branches for decorating and the Holly can start producing new berries for the following year.
Conifers play an important part in winter arrangements. Somehow they look more suitable during the dark months. When we pruned up a Silver fir and a Redwood (Sequoia), I used the boughs to form a backdrop in my window boxes for Pyracantha berries. These branches were put directly into the soil of the window boxes. Other conifer greens gleaned from the garden were Chamaecyparis lawsonia 'Elwood' with its blue green needles and Thuja orientalis 'Aurea Nana'. The Thuja gets trimmed regularly to keep it from disappearing up into the branches of an apple tree. Even the much despised Junipers, overused in this area as a quick ground cover, looks quite handsome in table arrangements. One year I used them as a bed to show off white roses bought from a flower stand and the red berried leafy sprays of heavenly bamboo.
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