I had been toying with the idea of filling all the containers I use in the summer on the deck with greens. I have a growing collection of black wrought iron baskets, plant stands, and window boxes that look so forlorn and empty now that the summer flowers are long gone.
I have a variety of pines in my yard that I usually use for cutting when making an arrangement, but there were enough containers to fill that I didn’t want to mutilate my pines. I had the bright idea of using leftover discarded Christmas trees to do the job. And I must admit, here and now, this was by far, not my best idea. I collected two discarded trees off the curb, waiting for garbage collection day. You can imagine, any tree still in a home this far past Christmas is going to be dry. And although my van smelled heavily and heavenly of sweet pine, there was major needle drop.
When I pulled the trees out of the van today to cut them up, I almost gave up the project when I saw all the needles in the back of my van. But I’d come this far and not wanting to admit defeat, I hacked away at the trees, and proceeded to fill the empty containers.
I had already filled the window box and arrangement on the table earlier in December with pines from my yard. Being on the north side of my home, they still look fresh as the day I made them.
The weather has turned bitter cold, so I made quick work of just stuffing pine boughs in the planters. By far, not my best arrangements, but they will do to brighten and cheer up the drab winter deck.
A few brown hydrangea heads (the only color of flowers still left in the garden) stuck in here and there, was the best I could do with my fingers getting numb.
Maybe if the weather warms again, I’ll try to do some rearranging and add some cut pine from my yard, but if not, this will have to do.
And even though not so pretty close up, they look lovely from inside the house, and will look lovelier still with a dusting of snow.
If I attempt this again next year, it will definitely be done with fresher greens on a warmer day more conducive to floral arranging. But, until spring, when flowers are abundant again, this will have to do.
They turned out very pretty!
Thank you Robin, but they are far from pretty. Better than the empty planters, but a little rearranging should help if I get a nice day. It’s only me that sees them, so it’s no big deal if I don’t.
I loved your statement about “not wanting to admit defeat” – I’m guilty of a similar drive to complete things even as I second guess myself.
The trees may have been past their prime but you did a nice job filling your empty boxes and baskets and, with that kind of cold and damp, hopefully the pines will hang on longer than you may have expected. If I’d seen this post before all my neighbor’s trees were whisked away, I might have used some of the local pine boughs to fill an empty urn I have. Another SoCal blogger reporting that she collected trees to use cuttings as mulch, which is another idea I need to store away for next year.
It would have been easier to just drag them to the curb for trash pick up. I’ll be picking pine needles out of the back of my van for a long time I’m sure. Next year I may try to hit the tree stands on Christmas Eve to see if I can pick up a couple trees for a few bucks. They would be in much better condition not having been inside a house.
I’m sure they would make a nice mulch for acid loving plants, but I don’t have anything that would mulch the branches. But the boughs might be a nice way to cover tender plants and easy to remove in the spring.
I’m hoping that a few birds might find them a nice place to sleep at night with the house and boughs giving them some protection from the wind.
It is a great idea to keep the planters interesting all winter. I had planters with the fiber like yours, but the squirrels took it all.