Containers filled with boughs of conifers, berried branches, broadleaf evergreens, and dried flowers are eye-catchers indoors and out. Typically winter is the season least planned and planted for color, but it’s the season we need color most. Welcome your guests with containers infused with holiday colors. Make sure containers can withstand freezing while filled with moist soil. Those made of resin, plastic, and zinc are safe; clay and glazed ceramics are not. After frost, clear containers of dead plants and use the moistened soil already in the container as floral foam. Branches poked into moist soil hold their positions and stay fresh longer. Winter’s chill will keep them looking fresh for several months. A light snow adds the ultimate sparkle.

WINTER JEWEL BOX

1. Line an iron hayrack-style window box with sheet moss or coir (or use a wooden window box). Fill with potting soil and add water to the point of saturation.

2. Insert clippings such as Fraser fir, Southern magnolia, and juniper with its blue fruit to nearly fill the box. Around the edges insert strands of ‘Gold Heart’ English ivy.

3. Next insert branches with berries, such as winterberry holly in red or yellow, pyracantha, or nandina. For a flourish, add dried blue flowerheads of globe thistle.

HANGING GREENS

Hanging baskets look best with feathery greens such as dragon’s eye pine and white pine drooping over the edges. Cedar, golden chamaecyparis, winterberries, and rose hips round out the basket. Hang a series of baskets, one in each space between porch columns. Or hang one basket up high in a garden arch.