Foraged Seasonal Christmas Arrangements

Everyone is decking the halls, by cutting boughs of greens from their property and using them for decorating. Foraging is the trendy way of describing the time honored tradition of using what you already have. I even have picked up piled up tree trimmings at my local store that is selling fresh Christmas trees. When …

Top 10 Tips for Creating Outdoor Christmas Arrangements

Christmas porch pots are the easiest method to decorate your outside entrance or deck inexpensively and quickly. If you need some pizzazz to greet visitors, create a live green arrangement with evergreens and twigs cut from your property. Jazz it up with something sparkly and you can leave it in place for weeks without any …

Deck the Halls With Foraged Christmas Arrangements

Everyone is decking the halls, by cutting boughs of greens from their property and using them for decorating. Foraging is the trendy way of describing the time honored tradition of using what you already have. When spruce cones start to form on trees, I venture out with my long reach pruners and snip them off …

Christmas Porch Pots for Instant Pizzazz

Christmas porch pots are the easiest method to decorate your outside entrance inexpensively and quickly. If you need some pizzazz to greet visitors, create a live green arrangement with evergreens and twigs cut from your property. Jazz it up with something sparkly and you can leave it in place for weeks without any care. Long …

Christmas Decorating with Holly at McLean Nursery

McLean Nursery is gearing up for a big Christmas holly decorating season! Hundreds of fluffy festive bows are hanging from the workshop ceiling and the 'elves' are busily making the many wreaths and boxwood trees that are destined to deck the halls of some lucky customers. And those customers come back year after year as …

2020-A Great Gardening Year

Hearing from everyone how awful this year has been- I agree! Until I remember everything good that came from the garden. If you don't have a garden, I commiserate. Gardening has kept me sane and quite busy this year. January I recycled my Christmas tree for the birds. Try that this year instead of setting …

The White House in Gingerbread

Having decorated for Christmas at the White House for several years, my fondest memories of the time spent there is the official unveiling  of the intricately detailed candy-adorned gingerbread house. Gingerbread Construction & Placement The annual tradition occurs around the last day that we are feverishly decorating, when the enormous and very heavy piece of …

Poinsettias: Selection, Care & Uses

No flower says Christmas like the beautiful Poinsettia.  I was amazed to learn that the Poinsettia is the most popular potted plant by far in the U.S. and Canada. But here are a few tips in buying the perfect Poinsettia to adorn your Christmas season. Selecting a Healthy Poinsettia Before Care-Have you ever brought home …

Front Porch Winter Cheer

What do you do with containers on your front porch or deck once you have yanked out those sorry-looking frost-killed petunias? Segue into the holiday season with beautiful fall/winter containers using "yard" material. Forage for material from your property on or around your home. Snips in hand, I venture into roadside edges and woods and …