Non-traditional Holiday Gifts
We find that people are often looking for something different to give as holiday gifts. Blooming plants are always a great idea, either on their own, or included in a gift basket. Cyclamen, paperwhites and amaryllis make lovely holiday gifts and offer something different from the traditional poinsettia. Giving these plants while they are in flower make the most impact, but they can also be given as bulbs to your gardening friends to have the satisfaction of growing them on their own. Be sure to buy a few extra blooming plants for your own holiday décor!
Winter Container Gardens: Living Plants vs. Fresh Cut
Since most gardens are not in their prime November through February, adding colorful accents to steps, porches and pathways with winter container gardens is a way to bring interest closer to the home. While we sell planted winter gardens ready to go, we often encourage our customers to get creative and assemble their own containers to show off their personal style. The first step is to decide if you’d like to work with live plants or cut branches.
Live container gardens can include, but are certainly not limited to: ornamental grasses, small conifers such as Alberta spruce, heather, wintergreen, and pansies. Use the concept of “thrillers, fillers, and spillers” when creating a container display. Leave some room for the plants to fill in – both at the top of the pot and consider the room needed in the soil below for their roots. Creating living containers can be a very artistic outlet – like choosing plants for their foliage textures and colors and how they contrast or blend with the colors of pansies or the red wintergreen berries. We are happy to help people choose the right plants in addition to the best containers and soil to use.
Containers using fresh cut plant material can easily last the entire winter season and creating them can be fun, spontaneous, and whimsical. Options of what to include are numerous: fresh cut evergreen boughs, red- or yellow-stemmed dogwood and stems or branches from willow, birch or other trees with attractive bark. While all of these materials are readily available, the best part is adding in finds from your own garden: an empty bird’s nest, or a fallen branch with the cones or fall color still on it. If any branches turn brown or look withered, just pull them out and replace.
As a final touch for both types of containers, adding ornaments and/or twinkle lights can really make your creations shine – especially on dark days and early nights!
