Christmas in a Winter Garden

When the ground is blanketed with snow all the world is white, gardeners and home owners are blessed with a bright blank canvas. They can see the outline of gates, sheds, birdbaths, benches and urns but there is an urgent need for color.

A Festive Look to a Winter Garden

December is the time to spruce up an outdoor space with holiday glitter and evergreen boughs. What could be more beautiful on a gate than an evergreen wreath with a big red bow – striking against the brightness of the snow? Here are a few tips for homeowners to add a festive look to a winter garden.

• Exterior fairy lights wrapped around small trees at the back of a garden offer a magical appearance as it glitters with the snow.
• Attach a wreath of cedar or other evergreens to the gate, fence, arbor, shed door or anywhere else the homeowner thinks could be brightened up – even the bird feeder.
• Add plastic red, gold or silver Christmas balls to an outside evergreen tree.
• Assuming the gardener has removed all the spent annuals from urns and pots, replace them with bouquets of evergreen boughs, interesting twigs, branches with red berries and holly. Bright red bows will bring even higher contrast against the snow.
• Make a candle arrangement on a patio or front porch table. Use varying heights and surround them with boughs of cedar or pine.
• Festoon the fence with swags of evergreen boughs, topped off with big colorful bows.
• Dogwood branches turn red soon after the first cold snap. Consider adding an urn of dogwood branches to mark the entrance to your garden.

Forage for Natural Greenery and Berries

If the homeowner has legal access to a forest or woodland, she could put on her snow shoes and look for interesting natural twigs, greenery and berries to decorate both her house and her garden. The forest offers all sort of surprises. Moss could be used at the base of a candle display. Bark removed from fallen trees could be tied around candles with raffia.

If forest access is difficult, take a country drive and see what can be found along the roadsides. Free is always best, but most garden nurseries before the holidays will have a good selection of natural materials for decorating inside and outside the home. When foraging in the wild, always leave some for mother nature.

Make a winter garden beautiful this Christmas by adding elegance and wit, creating a festive picture in the snow.