Winter Planters

My approach to decorating on the exterior of the house is similar to how I ‘deck the halls’ on the inside. For me, it’s all about winter inspiration. I always do my planters first. They are kept out all year long and switch them up with every season change. If you don’t have planters I would suggest investing in neutral ones that compliment your home. Sure, you could spend a fortune and purchase prearranged planters. But where’s the fun in that? Making your own is cheaper and you can get creative and add your own personal style. Here’s my go to formula for building your own winter planters.

What you need:

Planter (s) filled with soil (we leave this soil in all year)

Height elements: birch sticks (poles) , branches such as curly willow

Greenery: cedar is a must, pine, juniper, fir varieties, boxwood, euonymus and more will all work. Usually sold in bunches. This year I bought 4 bunches of 4 varieties and split them.

Decorative accents: Be creative! Pinecones, balls, wildlife inspiration, ornaments and ribbon. It’s really helpful if you can find things that have a stick attached so that they can be secured into the soil

Clippers

The first thing I do is layout all my elements and then divide them by 2 as I have 2 pots.

Step 1

The birch sticks are the visual anchor of the whole arrangement so I use that as my jumping off point. I place them in the back half of the planter as all of the other elements will be built in front of them. My planters are against the wall so I don’t have to worry about how the back looks. If the backside of your pots will be visible, place your high elements more in the centre so you have space to add greenery all the way around.

Step 2

Adding the greenery. I add the fresh greens in layers starting with the fir or pine. It’s not so pretty and it’s very hearty so provides a good base. Poke the ends directly into the soil so they keep longer and won’t move.

Add your cedar next also sticking the ends into the dirt. Use your clippers to trim the branches of they are too big. I love the way the cedar drapes over the sides.

Boxwoods, juniper and euonymus are quite woody and hearty so I added them as vertical elements.