Last week I tried to change out a client’s fall container to a holiday display. However, I found the soil already frozen solid due to the unusually cold temperatures in Indiana this November.

Luckily, this week we had a stretch of temperatures in the 50s. I was able to remove the plants from the container, transplant them into her garden, and install the holiday decor.

Holiday Shopping

I love decorating for the holidays. Perhaps overly excited by the opportunity to create a holiday container in my first year of business, I found myself running around stores picking up everything I thought might look good. I changed my mind several times. At least, until I saw the small tree made of thick twine. I knew it would be the perfect centerpiece for the container.

Since the tree was made of natural materials, I knew that the other materials for the container should enhance the natural theme and kept it simple by using complimentary red elements.

When designing an outdoor container, don’t limit yourself to items labeled for outdoor use. This little tree was in a home decor display, but is made of sturdy enough materials to stand up to winter weather for at least one season. Similarly, I found the little squirrels on the bottom shelf of a floral department, but thought, even if they fall apart in one season, they were too cute to pass up and knew my client would get a kick out of them.

(The day after I installed this container, she reported that some curious creature dragged the little squirrels into the flower bed for closer inspection. Hopefully this critter decided the fake squirrels weren’t a threat and will leave them be!)

Decorating a Holiday Container

To decorate the tree, I found small red jingle bells and tied them to the tree with twine. The red star was an ornament I attached to the top with hot glue. After that, I hid the soil with evergreen trimmings and added large red shatterproof ornaments to further decorate the container.

I secured the tree with rocks at the base and used landscape staples to pin it into the soil on all sides. I also used landscape staples to pin the large ornaments into the soil. The ribbon and large pinecones around the base were the final touches.

Happy Holidays!