Some of you may wonder why I chose the name ‘Flora & Fiber’ for my blog and business. ‘Fiber’ is probably obvious given the vast majority of my writings. But did you know another one of my interests is gardening? Hence the ‘Flora’ portion of the name. Today’s post brings a project from the latter.

During Spring, Summer, and Fall there are a variety of plants that bring color to containers and urns. Typically annuals fit the bill because of the plethora of choices in color, texture, and form. But what to do with the winter containers?

I do have some perennial containers like the Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) and the little fairy garden pictured above. And I plant a few window boxes and smaller containers with pansies; cool season annuals that do very well here in South Carolina from the end of October through mid-Spring. But, this year I was looking for something different for my large urns.

Presto! This idea was delivered to my inbox with perfect timing. It’s a video tutorial from Proven Winners called ‘Time To Dress The Urns for Winter!’

So here is my version . . .

I filled the back of our golf cart with a variety of plant material I harvested around the farm.

This is the remainder of my summer urn plantings, Calibrachoa commonly known as Million Bells. Calibrachoa are supposed to be annuals in my Zone 7b USDA Plant Hardiness Zone, however they overwintered quite well last year without any special effort on my part.

In preparation for assembling my winter urn, I gave them a good trim. We’ll see if they are still with us next Spring!

In lieu of iron obelisks, I rummaged around in the greenhouse and found these hanging plant containers. I removed the coir liners and turned them upside down over the urns. They don’t show as prominently as the obelisks, but they worked great to provide the “bones” to build my container arrangement.

I watered the soil and was ready for the next step. Hmmmmmm . . . . no Arctic Fire Dogwood . . . .

But I do have these wonderful corkscrew branches on my Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta'). I think they provide interesting charm!

No Arctic Sun Dogwood either . . . darn . . . this one is a bit of a stretch.

Arkansas Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii) has beautiful yellow stems. While not as substantial as the dogwood branches, they do add a pop of color as well as textural interest with their ferny leaves.

The pine was easy to harvest in the woods around the farm.

Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), now that I have! No need to order those leaves from the florist.

For filler greens, I also tucked in some Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) as well as native cedar (Juniperus virginiana) that grows in abundance around the farm.

Although I love the look of the seeded eucalyptus used in the video, I’m quite pleased with my substitution . . .

This is Temple Bells (Pieris japonica). These shoots will open into cascades of white flowers reminiscent of Lily of the Valley, but for my purposes, the unopened buds were perfect.