Christmas at home

Here's a look at some of the Christmas decorations at our house

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday

Missed opportunities.

Winter has arrived here in Michigan, though the calendar still say's it's fall' when the tempature dipps below freezing, and there is about 6" of snow on the ground, it's winter.

I'm knee deep in the middle of doing my winter pots and holiday decorating

Not all of my clients celebrate Christmas, but they have containers that  they don't want to be left cold and empty

The solution is Winter pots.

A garden for the cold season, and we get about five months of it.

Using materials that are winter hardy, cut evergreens, preserved Eucalyptus and yes even fake fruit

work perfectly. These pots laugh at frigid temps

These containers will welcome guest through the winter month's, and will remain looking good until the weather breaks in spring

A empty container is a missed opportunity do some winter pots. This we like!

Tis the season

The decorating season has arrived, time to decorate the garden for the holidays and for winter. Though it does not feel like winter here in Michigan at all, Oh I'm not complaining, we have enjoyed warmer than usual temperatures for this time of the year.

 It does make decorating less of a chore

Because I am a Gardner, my decorating style reflects this. Pots and containers usually reserved for plantings are now filled with cut evergreens, preserved Eucalyptus, fake holly branches and lights.

The choice to use red and silver in these  seasonal displays was not based on the traditional colors of the season, but more for the way they are read from the street

Decorating for the season is in my opinion just another form of gardening

Instead of a blanket of snow this garden has a blanket of leaves.

Technically it is still autumn,

Where there once were flowers there are now cut evergreens and branches 

Like the planting season you are still working with plant materials, and lots of greens.

Decorate your garden, enjoy the season  This we like !!

The colors of fall

As I mentioned in my earlier post  fall is a shot season. 

Here in Michigan we have been enjoying fall, Mother nature is putting on one of her greatest color shows of the year. 

The evenings have been cool and the days are warm, we have yet to see a hard frost, at least not in my parts, not yet.

The ornamental Cabbages and Kales are showing their colors

The planting in the photo above was a happy surprise.Who knew the colors in this potato vine would be picked up in the colors of this mum. Gardening is about happy surprises.

Pumpkins, and gourds are always a quick way to add some color to the fall garden. I'm planning to save the seeds  from these, I especially love the gnarly ones

And of course the trees. These are all just footsteps from my front door.

On the back porch, my fall plantings

These photo's don't even come close to the complex coloration of these red cabbages

The color is like a florescent bluish, purplish reddish greenish

Hopefully you can enjoy the colors of fall, it is a spectacular show albeit a short one.

This we like

Autumn, it's a short one

Along with the fall like weather comes the rains, and we've gotten our share of it over the last couple of day's

Actually a good thing, since I'v pretty much have stopped watering. The watering season is over.

Fall gardens differ from summer and spring, by this I mean that 

once they're planted they are pretty much done.

The anticipation of waiting for something to bloom, to grow into a promise is not part of the fall garden. This is it, the fall season is a short one

This is the last curtain call for this garden, the last call for flowers

Centerpieces with dried Millet, Eucalyptus and dried Artichokes add height to this planting of mums

Some annuals stick around for the last call and lend a helping hand such as this gold Dracena that still looks good

The rain has pretty much taken over the task of watering this garden of purples, and the Squirrels have helped them selves to the red cabbages

Leaf litter becomes a common site in the fall garden

Enjoy the season , it's a short one