A Festive Six on Saturday

With just four days to Christmas, it seems only right to feature a festive six today and I think we’re probably all eager to brighten up yet another damp and gloomy week! We went and collected our tree last weekend, it’s now festooned with the baubles we’ve gathered over many years and is lifting the mood on these wet and windy days. This afternoon I’ve had fun foraging around two gardens – ours and my moms and have gathered an armful of bright and beautiful stems – a feast for the eyes!

For the door wreath, I used red dogwood stems to make the frame and then added just three plants – viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’, skimmia japonica and ivy. This is very different from my usual offering, which has traditionally consisted of berries, ivy and aucuba japonica, but the viburnum and skimmia are flowering profusely and I couldn’t resist.

My moms garden was the source for most of the stems in this bouquet, made for the greenhouse door. The rose hips are the stars, but the lush yew and skimmia provide the finishing touches. Very handsome!

For this vase, garrya elliptica, with it’s long silky tressels is brightened up with some glossy holly and a few dried glittery stems I had stored in the Christmas decoration box.

Chris has potted up these cheerful standard hollies to sit on our front door step with twinkly lights in winter – a welcome greeting when we pull on the drive..

As I’ve previously indicated, acer ‘Sango Kaku’ is one of my a favourite plants in our garden- stunning foliage from spring to autumn and bright pink bark throughout the year – it lends itself very well to being dressed with flashy lights in winter. Unfortunately, I needed to use as tripod to get a clear shot of it, but as it was dark and muddy, I decided against!