winter containers | Deborah Silver & Co.

At A Glance: The Winter Pots and Boxes: 2000-2021

2000 To follow is a substantial run of pictures from my winter container arrangement archives-the photo collection and work dates back 21 years. I am as surprised to see this as you are. I did not think there were this many years and that much history-but here it is. I did not compare every picture from a given year, and choose what I thought was the best. Whatever seemed to speak to this moment was included. Some arrangements look in keeping with the year they were made. Some look ahead of their time. Some look great and others are so regrettably so so. Ha. You decide what you think. I have my memories.

2001 Tender We recycled dead Bradford pears from our nursery supplier, and rubbed them down with a copper colored wax. The trees were ornamented with twine pillows and platinum fluff balls.

2002 This light garland was the first of many that Rob would make over the past 20 years. I am sure there are more to come.

2002, part 2 Galvanized pipe wound round with lights, curly copper willow, and greens augmented with light strands and lighted ornaments

2003 Dried and dyed mood moss fitted and glued over urethane topiary forms

2004 Prelit glitter and berry branches hover over fresh cut greens and lighted ball ornaments.

2004 More of those prelit metallic copper glitter branches.

2005 round wood poles, grapevine spheres and lengths of thin wood lath

2005 dried grasses, twigs, faux berry picks and cut pine

2006 stick stack, berry picks, and fresh noble fir over a large huck wreath.

2006 bleached willow twigs, stick stacks, bottle brush snowflakes and gold poly mesh

2007 a first foray into arranging natural foraged branches

2007 at Detroit Garden Works live juniper topiaries, fan willow and mixed cut greens. We have never been able to source fan willow of this size and with this degree of fasciation, again – it was locally grown.

2007 contemporary stoneware pot by Francesco del Re filled with various contemporary sticks and stacks.

2008 red twig dogwood, red berry picks, fresh silver dollar eucalyptus set into cut noble fir boughs

2008 yellow twig dogwood and eucalyptus stems and pods

2009 red twig dogwood, faux red twig picks, magnolia branches and mixed evergreen boughs

2010 magnolia garland, red twig dogwood and red berry picks

2011 un-branched red twig dogwood, magnolia, boxwood, fresh cut winterberry and noble fir

2011 Detroit Garden Works gold deco mesh enlivens fresh cut pussy willow, greens, and pine cones

2012 copper curly willow and magnolia branches – and mountain hemlock all around

2013 Tall red bud pussy willow, red preserved eucalyptus and mixed greens

2013 red bud pussy willow, lilac preserved eucalyptus, magnolia and noble fir

2014 flame willow, magnolia branches and mixed cut greens-

2014

2015 lime green faux berry picks and pale blue gray preserved eucalyptus. The basket planter is Dutch made.

2015 with the Christmas holiday in mind

2016 English made steel topiary form with lights, spruce tips, and snow

2017 flame willow, magnolia and spruce branches

2017 yellow twig dogwood, yellow fuzz ball picks, white eucalyptus, variegated boxwood in a large corten steel planter box

2018 3′ diameter lighted ring over a mix of silver and noble fir

2018 a thicket of “midwinter sun” dogwood branches and mountain hemlock

2019 a sparse arrangement of red bud pussy willow, green and white fuzz ball picks, gold and white berry picks and magnolia

2019 “midwinter fire dogwood branches and a light ring

2019 yellow and green

2020 a winter sculpture made of fan willow, boxwood and noble fir

2020 flame willow and large scale snowball picks awash in LED cherry lights

2020 layered look with tall faux astilbe picks
2020 wool felt stole and gold grass picks

2020 wicker basket pots

2021 bleached sticks of several diameters and heights; white berry picks

2021 the centerpiece: cream berries lining the interior of a 5′ diameter light ring, twigs, picks and magnolia

2021 3′ diameter light ring, alder branches, stainless steel spheres on stainless stems, silver plastic grass
2021 green and white

2021 evergreen branches set vertically

2021 window boxes with light rings, faux lambs ear garlands, silver plastic grass, blueberry picks, white flower picks-and beaded stars. Very keen to see what will come next.

Posted on: January 29, 2022 37 Comments

Filed Under: Picture This, Holiday, Winter, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Seasonal Tagged With: holiday pots, winter pots, winter containers, holiday containers, winter arrangements, Deborah Silver and Co

Recent Work

What is to follow does by no means represent all of the winter and holiday container work that was done this season, but it’s a start. It will take a few more posts to talk about them all. But I could not be happier for the incredible, thoughtful and memorable work of staff from Deborah Silver and Co, The Branch Studio, and Detroit Garden Works. They make it all happen, and I watch their process and their production with great respect and awe. There is a whomping lot of pictures to follow, all in celebration of the 2021 winter season in the garden.

Posted on: December 24, 2021 59 Comments

Filed Under: container planting, Winter, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Seasonal Tagged With: winter pots, winter containers, winter garden pots, holiday pots, holiday decor

Lighted Steel Hoops

I don’t remember how long ago it was that Rob began experimenting with attaching lights to steel forms, but I would guess it was at least 10 years ago. There was a series of steel augurs, wound with rope lights, and hung from stout branches in the linden trees. Any farm tool was fair game. This was in the very early days of our winter and holiday season, so Rob haunted every store within driving distance for different kinds of exterior lighting.
There were galvanized steel pipes of varying lengths completely covered with light strands. They were threaded over a solid pipe that had been driven in to the ground. The quality of these incandescent light strings was on the poor side, and they furthermore required a lot of electricity to run. LED outdoor lighting was in its infancy, and the harsh bluish light was reminiscent of gas station bathroom lighting. Light to be interrogated by, as it were. There were winter arrangements that had lighting wound around the pots. There was a phase when he made his own lighting by assembling cords and bulbs bought one at a time. There were galvanized buckets with lights, greens and cones. Set it on your porch, plug it in, and celebrate the winter. Rob never was one for overly elaborate or complicated displays. He likes simple and casually striking. There were winter container arrangements that had light strings as mulch. Strands of C-7 and C-9 lights were piled high. Eventually we had to upgrade all of our existing exterior circuits to 20 amps each, and we added more circuits for good measure. We were lit.

Sooner or later, something solid was bound to come from all of his tinkering. The day he came home with a pair of vintage wagon wheels that he wound round with lights, and hung in the airspace in the shop, I could tell something was in the air. There was something about that circle of light that was as satisfying as it was fascinating. A client bought them both in short order. That winter, he spent a lot of time designing a steel hoop especially engineered to hold and securely capture the lights, and we manufactured them in different sizes.
A year later, he designed an integral stand for the rings. This meant they could be securely inserted into a pot, or in the ground. In the air, or in the ground-you can take your pick, or do both. By this time, he had found an LED lighting line that he liked. The lighted hoops were a winter decoration that could be enjoyed year after year. Three years in to the lighted hoop manufacture, he suggested that perhaps it was time to move on to another shape. I was incredulous. That circle of light was so simple, so visually striking and so easy to use, I couldn’t imagine him giving it up. So we have fine tuned the engineering, and continued to make them. Jackie has shipped them all over the US and Canada. To gardeners, and not gardeners. To designers, florists, and restaurateurs. A sure sign of a great design, they adapt instantly to any setting.

Clients for whom we do winter pots ask for them now, and we are happy to oblige. That ring of light features the fixings in a winter centerpiece in an elegant and stunning way.

Rob manufactures them in sizes starting with a 2 foot diameter, on up to a 7 footer. Pictured above is a 5 foot diameter light ring. Since the lights are on the outside of the hoop, we sometimes install string lighting at the bottom of the centerpiece, and or in the greens.

The sculptural quality of the hoops make them a design asset even during the day. I have no idea how many hoops Rob has out there now, but there are lots. Every time I see one, I think about his long term interest in lighting the garden and landscape in the winter. He tells me he enjoys seeing the work of others fabricating their own version of lighted hoops. It is a testament to a great idea that variations on this theme have sprouted in other places by other people. To follow are pictures of winter arrangements new and old that feature his light rings. They are all different in execution, and all the same in their successful effort to keep the winter dark at bay.

See what I mean?

Posted on: December 22, 2020 29 Comments

Filed Under: Detroit Garden Works, Lighting, Winter Tagged With: Rob Yedinak, winter containers, winter lighting, light rings, light hoops from Detroit Garden Works, lighted steel hoops

At A Glance: Recent Work

We are just about halfway with our holiday and winter container work. To follow are some pictures of what work we have done-and an associated before photo that gives a little insight into the studio process. 9 people are involved in every project from the start to the installation. Enjoy some of the highlights of their work.