More Ideas for Easy Holiday Containers

A couple of years ago, we suggested three ideas for easy holiday containers—one with mostly sticks, such as dogwood and curly willow, one that was simply a live tree planted in a pot (that would go in the ground come spring), and one where the container was the star and it was filled with simple greenery.

If none of these work for you, here are three more ideas for easy holiday containers.

Scavenge in Your Yard

Check around your yard to see what you have that could be pruned for a simple holiday container. Designers recommend four to five kinds of greens and three or four extras, such as branches, pine cones or faux items in an outdoor holiday container. Pick a smaller pot, if you don’t want to take too much from the yard and remember you can use branches trimmed off your holiday tree, if you have a real tree indoors.  One item that I think really works in holiday containers and most northern gardeners have a ton of is dried hydrangea blooms. You can easily harvest a few for your pots. These probably won’t last the entire winter, especially if it’s windy or sleeting. But they’ll be good until January. You can even spray paint them, if you want to add gold, red or another color accent to your containers. Pick a nice day and do the spray painting in your garage or outside, if possible. Then add the hydrangea blooms as you might add pine cones. I’ve also dried grapefruit or orange slices and added them to holiday wreaths—festive and you can’t beat the scent.

Go Bright

A holiday container doesn’t have to be all plant material, and we’ve seen some really cute ones with an urn-style contain, a rim of greenery and outdoor-holiday balls or ornaments piled in the center. Our DIY columnist Eric Johnson offered a really cool idea for a lighted holiday orb that could be balanced in a container. The orb is made of chicken wire that you shape into a circle, then you cover it with small lights (warning: you will need a lot!). Once made, the orb is set in a container and plugged in. The joy of this kind of holiday decor is you can bring it back into action every year once you have one made.

Support Local Businesses

The easiest holiday container of all is one made by one of the many beautiful container designers working at local nurseries and garden centers. These can be huge and custom-made or smaller and delightful. The choices are endless and can match the style of your home or your personal taste, whether it’s traditional, contemporary or eclectic. I’m always amazed at the fun designs I see at local nurseries. Many of our discount partners are open through the holidays and have lots of choices. Now that’s an easy holiday container!