Holiday Wreaths | Dirt Simple

The Week In Wreaths

Between Steve and I, two crews, and some help from Jenny, Scott, and Julie in the shop, we installed 15 projects this past week. One crew came in Saturday, yesterday, to do my pots at home, and start the holiday display outside the shop-where they got the energy to do this, I have but one idea. They are consummate professionals, all of them. Some jobs were small, and went in quickly. Others were more complicated-holiday decor inside and out, and holiday lighting. Steve worked on our last landscape project of the season every day but Friday-that project is not included in the 15. Needless to say, I did very little in the way of writing, and a lot in the way of work this past week. Any work for the holidays has to be done with dispatch-anyone who asks me to decorate for them wants to have the time to enjoy it. Though we start our season the week before Thanksgiving, the first 10 days of December are always our busiest. I find all the activity stressful, and exhilarating.

I see that decorating schedule repeated in people who come to the Works to shop. There are but a few weeks late in the year to dream it up, and get it done. November and early December have been incredibly mild. This meant more people took the time to decorate outdoors, and put up holiday lighting. It means more people who have the inclination or passion to garden are staying outdoors a while longer. In a good season, I may do 60 landscape projects, 80 annual plantings, and 40 holiday/winter projects. This really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in a greater community the size of mine. The shop is a way in which lots more people are exposed to ideas, materials, and encouragement. When the weather cooperates, I see winter and holiday gardening in lots of places. People we help in the shop go on to represent the holiday in their own special way. The neighborhoods now are full of light, at night. A big celebration going on outdoors-I love this.

We have had only 2 days of temperatures below 30 this season-that is very unusual. A holiday season when the ground goes rock hard before Thanksgiving is more ordinary, and is extra hard work. I have watched my crews pry soil out of pots with a crow bar-it’s not work we look for. It also discourages people from getting their materials out of the basement, attic or garage, and doing their own. This year is shaping up to be a good one-I see good looking work every day, everywhere. We are working-everyone is working! Buck and I went to a party last night just 20 minutes from home. The neighborhood was lit up, decked out, and looking very festive. I almost ran off the road in a few places, trying to get a good look at everything.

Once all of my work is done, Buck will drive, and I will look. I am so interested to see how other people interpret the holidays, decorate their front porches and doors, light their yards. What appeals to me? People taking the time and effort to express themselves.

I decorated 14 wreaths for the shop this year. All of them were made from twigs left over from the 2010 holiday season. In January, Pam and I wove all of these twigs into small wreaths; we put them into storage the first of February. I decorated all of them with natural materials, and knitted birds in late November. This wreath-the last of the lot, was sold to an old client as a gift for his very elderly Mom. He explained to me in great detail why he thought this wreath would be a good gift for her. His gift to me was considerable; we had a conversation, person to person.

I have made 39 wreaths so far this season-I have 10 more to go. I do each and every one of them personally. The holiday pots and installations I design and draw; my crew creates and installs them. But the wreaths cannot be drawn. I just do them. There is a client, an idea or place they have in mind, a color scheme-my clues are many. I write most of that down. I read over the notes just before I get going. Next up? I get going.

14 0f this year’s holiday wreaths are Christmas presents I send out for one client. She has a point of view which I honor; all 14 are different. 12 wreaths were for the shop, a handmade twig wreath was the starting point for all. Thirteen others were individually made for individual clients. Individual places.

I have 10 more wreaths to go. Am I complaining? Yes-I wish I had more. I do truly enjoy this part of the holiday season. I plan to have all 10 done by the end of the day Tuesday. More likely, I will be done Thursday.

I have a few wreaths I plan to make as gifts. A friend, a sister in law, and a client whose landscape is under construction. Last of all, a wreath for Buck and I.

This client? They have been great clients for many years. Would I please funk it up a little this year? In red and green? Am I happy to oblige? No doubt, I am.

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Posted on: December 11, 2011 Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Detroit Garden Works, Garden Stories, Holiday, Landscape Design Tagged With: holiday decor, holiday wreaths, the Christmas holiday, the holidays

Holiday Red

Everyone reacts strongly to color-I am no exception. I am not crazy about red in the landscape. I design with red foliaged trees and shrubs on rare occasions. Something or someone has to nudge me in this direction. I am a card carrying advocate of green. All kinds, shades, and manner of green. In summer container gardens, red can be ruthlessly overbearing. Too bright and cheery. But I will try anything-won’t you? The year I featured red in my containers was a good year, but not my favorite. Red in the spring-that color after a long winter is so welcome. Red tulips underplanted with lavender pansies-scrumptious. Red at the holidays is a blessing. The skies, the ground, the trees- most everything in the landscape goes drab. Trees with persistent red winter fruit, and red-stemmed shrubs are prized by northern gardeners, for good reason. I decorated this Christmas tree some years ago; I still love this celebration arranged around red. My clients had just moved in. Moving boxes were everywhere. This red ornamented tree, and its red sinamay tree skirt stood out-a reminder that the color red celebrates every warm gesture people make at the holidays. Instantly this newly restored house felt much more like home.

I have a client that orders up a pair of holiday wreaths. One for her front door, and one for the library. I concentrate on whatever natural materials are available to me. Pine cones, anise balls, red preserved eucalyptus, reindeer moss, platys seed pods, dry tallowberries, fresh magnolia leaves pack this mixed green wreath with a variety of colors and textures.

The red berry picks energize all of the other elements. No real red berries exist in my garden like these, but I have no problem with these shiny faux red berry picks. It’s the red that represents the spirit of the holidays.

I decorated this house for the holidays 6 years ago. I have published a few of my pictures from this project before; I still like it. The red light covers look like glass ornaments during the day. They glow red at night. The lit vertical stems are intertwined with a few very long red berry stems. That red reads from a distance both day and night. In early evening, the landscape is muted and somber. This red in the wood boxes is a visual version of happy holidays, friends and family-welcome to this home.

Holiday red can take a lot of forms. Red ribbon, berry stems, preserved eucalyptus, pomagranites, apples, red twig dogwood, glass ornaments-in this case, a red felt tree skirt with a felt pointsettia petal border.

Red can be very dressy.

Red can also be simple and striking. The client who gets this wreath has a collection of nutcrackers that sit on her porch for the holidays. The colors of those figures are bright, and accented with lots of white. In this case, the white ornaments and white based velvet ribbon help pop that red all the more.

The cardinal on this wreath is the last of the 256 of them we had in the shop. Gardening people appreciate the birds; cardinal red is the name of one of the cultivars of red twig dogwood whose branches we stock at the holidays.

This wreath made of giant wood curls, and its wood rose have been dyed the most intense shade of red. Though red may be a very traditional holiday color, it never fails to catch my eye. Should your holiday decorating plans seem a little anemic, try a little red.

Posted on: December 3, 2011 6 Comments

Filed Under: Good Design, Holiday Tagged With: holiday decor, holiday wreaths

The Woolly Birds

I have a client that sends a number of my holiday wreaths as gifts every year. The wreaths themselves are handmade by a local nursery. I decorate the lot of them. Monica orders all of the boxes, JP drops off the cards, Jenny prints out all of the UPS labels; Pam and Salvadore wire the wreaths into the boxes (UPS states very clearly that a box has to withstand a drop of 3 feet)-after I make them. Lots of people are involved in making this event happen. My favorite moment? The UPS man hauling away all of those boxes. They are on their way.

This years group of wreaths revolve around 2 elements. Pam made all of the bows out of red jute twine that came from England. The knitted birds-who could resist them? Bows and birds-so simple. Those black bead eyes make eye contact. Making eye contact-elemental, and powerful. Look me in the eye-anyone would respond to this! My little knitted birds have an emotional impact that far outweighs their simple construction and small shape.

The other elements may vary-I want every wreath to be different. Handmade-and one of a kind. I would have a hard time making 16 wreaths all the same-so I am happy that I have free reign, provided the wreaths emphasize natural materials and forms.

The knitted birds with felt tails and feathers caught my eye last January-when I was shopping for the holidays. Rope covered spheres, eucalyptus, pine cones, dried white canola berries and reindeer moss-festive. Natural. This brown knitted bird perched on a red jute bow-my idea of holiday cheer.

I have to confess, my berries are faux berries. My cherries are faux cherries. The red color? That red is very real, very bright, very holiday.

These wreaths are not your machine made variety. They are handmade-thanks Dan. They are less than perfectly circular. Some wreaths I had to prune; some sections I have to wire back, or add to. But for a wreath predicated on a love for natural materials, I like these wild and wooly green wreaths as a base for this group of wreaths.

This knitted bird has a companion on his jute bow perch. A knitted mushroom. I have no idea which person on the gift list will get this wreath-but I hope they are pleased. I did only one wreath with this detail.

Making these wreaths has gone on long enough to become a holiday tradition for me. Many thanks for this, BL.

Did I photograph every wreath? Yes, I did. I send the pictures of every wreath to my client. She cares much for every person to whom she sends a wreath. I care much that she feels that I have represented that feeling of hers appropriately. There are lots of pictures.