CREATING A WINTER CONTAINER
We
spend so much of our time in the spring and summer tending to
our hanging baskets and containers - only to have heavy hearts come
fall when it is time to take them down. Do not dismay! Containers
and baskets for winter can be far more exciting!! You can be creative
even with the debris from your compost!
First
of all - decide on the container you want to fill. For me - I
usually do two hanging baskets for the front of the house, and two
larger containers for each side of the front door. Fill the containers
with general garden soil - the mixture is not intended to GROW things,
only to hold them in place! Take a leisurely walk around your
garden, pruning clippers in hand. Try to collect a few different
conifers and evergreens. These will be the backbone for your display.
I usually use branches from all the cedars, Douglas fir, cedrus
deodora, some cypress and juniper, and even broadleaf evergreens
such as rhododendrons and holly. (It's a real bonus if you can get
holly with the wonderful red berries on!) I take my treasures back
to my planting area, and arrange the limbs in a fan-shape manner
in the container - trying to create a rounded or tall shape,
depending on the container. Use different lengths to give it
some interest - tall in the back and sides, shorter in the front.
There are no rules here - so let your imagination take over!
As in the container pictured - I like to add height to
free-standing containers. To this end, I cut large swathes of
Miscanthus zebrinus - a fabulous, elegant ornamental grass in
the summer, but by late fall has a sturdy, straw-like quality
that looks perfect behind the many greens and blues of the
conifers. I then go about collecting dead and dried material
that will add the texture to the container. Particular favorites
in this category are the dried flower heads of the astilbes,
sedums and clematis. To add some vibrant color, I cut stems
from the deciduous red-barked dogwood (Cornus alba) - their bright
red stems really enhance the greens.
