My kitchen window looks out at my front door — and as I type this, when I look up I see the half done holiday containers sitting there.  (they are taunting me)

I lost momentum, because my design is just not doing it for me.  I am trying to think of a way to quickly and cheaply salvage the thought and materials already invested….I think pomegranates or oranges (or both) might be the answer…..and maybe some of the flower heads of my huge Miscanthus.  (I will share pictures and a full list of supplies if they look better after this weekend’s tinkering).

But of course, as I sit perplexed as to how to make this year’s planters better, I have just decided what I might do for next year.  My house is dark, so one of my issues is that dark greens don’t really show up against the house (which is part of my problem this year when I went with purple/red eucalyptus as a central design element).  So, in the spirit of something brighter yet still holiday-ish.  How is this for a planter idea?

Yellow Willow is used for the centerpiece (or yellow dogwood), blue spruce is used, variegated boxwood is used, and golden cypress is used for the greens.  Add in dried cotton still on the stems and some planted white heather.  The balls on the bottom left are amazing — I found them at Christmas Baubles for Sale — unfortunately, they were 97 bucks for 6 (ouch!!), but the biggest is 12″, the middle 10″, and the smallest is 8″ — and you do get 2 of each — so maybe it might be something to split with a friend?

What do you think about bows?  Personally, I am not a ‘bow person’.  But I think it might need something — at least on the wreath. I included the bow because I do love burlap, and if I were doing this, I think perhaps I would make the bow a bit more floppy-sloppy to take the “bow” edge off — like this.

Oh, and I am about to buy this fake blue spruce wreath to go with it since it seems to already be on an ‘after Christmas’ holiday sale.

Pre-lit blue spruce wreath from JCPenny.

But if I still lived in England, I think I would have to go with one of Miss Pickering’s blue spruce wreaths….like this one….or if you click through, you will see the utterly gorgeous creations from past years.

What do your holiday containers look like?  Did they come out particularly nice — if so, and you want to share…shoot me an email.