Decorate Your Entryway for the Holidays

With Thanksgiving less than a week away, now is the perfect time to get your entryway freshened up for the holidays. Say goodbye to those faded mums, sad pumpkins and yellowing ornamental cabbages. Bring on the evergreen boughs, red berries and twinkling lights!

A couple years ago, Rochelle Greayer over at Pith and Vigor wrote a blog post called Whipping Up Some Holiday Containers. She showed how she had converted the planter box near her front door into one of those gorgeous winter containers that you see outside fancy restaurants and department stores. Rochelle made it look so easy…

It actually is both fast and easy. The arrangement I made last weekend (shown below) only took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Ready. Set. Go.

My holiday planter would look much more impressive if I had purchased some interesting greens at the local garden center. But I was in a hurry (as usual) and just used what I had around the yard. That meant: red twig dogwood, spruce, balsam fir, false cypress and winterberry. As a general rule, aim for an arrangement that is at least twice the height of the container. So don’t be skimpy with branches and greenery.

Here’s another tip:  If you live in growing zones 6 or 7, consider filling the container with daffodils or tulips before adding your greens. This doesn’t work in colder zones unless you have a way to protect the soil from freezing, but in most parts of the country it works great. To learn more about planting bulbs in containers, see How to Grow Spring Bulbs in Containers.

Once you have collected a pile of materials, start by creating an oversized framework with the bare branches.

Then add your greens.

Then the color.

This sort of understated, natural look suits me, but if you prefer something more festive, you can always add other types of greens and berries, incorporate gold or silver, or bring in a big red bow. The last step is the lights.

Easy, right? So why not see what you can come up with at your house this weekend? It’s a fun break from raking leaves!

Note: The holiday decorating images at the very top of this post came from a blog post by Jana Milbocker at Enchanted Gardens.