holiday containers | Deborah Silver & Co.

Start To Finish

I have posted several times about a landscape project that was designed in 2015, and finally finished earlier this year. It was one of those rare moments when establishing a rapport with a committed client is instantaneous, and has staying power. The opportunity to work with them came courtesy of the Art-Harrison Design Studio. Arturo and Barry introduced me to their clients. That introduction eventually turned into a mission to renovate the landscape for this 1920’s era home in Detroit. The landscape was finished this past July. Our work this past week revolved around arrangements in their pots for the holiday and winter, and lighting. This large lighted wreath destined for a second story window was a little spare-we added some garland, picks and pods.

Installed in front of a second story window, the proportion is good, and the pale cones and pods read well from the ground.

The winter arrangements for the front door pots were installed this morning. All of the construction work of this was done in our garage over the past few days. I like keeping that mess at home. In the centerpieces – red bud pussy willow, alder branches, taupe eucalyptus, sinamay, and LED lighting.

At the end of the day today, on his way home, David added some white berry picks to the pots. I thought the pots needed it. Do we revise after an installation? All the time. I knew the lights would be warm-thus the gold mesh sinamay wrapped around the twigs. That sparkly nod to the holidays can be removed after New Year’s.

At 4pm the front door looks inviting. The lighting in the winter pots augments the coach lights on either side of the door, and the landscape lighting

By 5:30 pm, it is nearly dark. Not so, this front door. It is a well lit space that welcomes guests.

Lighted winter arrangements light the way. They turn back the long dark months that are sure to come. Any project I take on this time of year has some form of lighting. Will this client run the lights all winter? I hope so. The advent of highly energy efficient LED lighting makes the decision to keep the lights on easy.This large pot in the side yard features a number of sumac branches. The size, scale and color of them is good with the pot. Though the lighting is not so apparent in the afternoon, at dusk the light at the bottom of the eucalyptus will softly illuminate the centerpiece.

This spiked light ring is an alternate method of lighting a winter pot. I cannot explain why these light rings are so visually satisfying and beautiful, but they are.

It took the better part of the morning to install the winter arrangements in all of their pots, and hook up the lighting. Marzela is putting the finishing touches on this pot after the lighted steel hoop was set in the center. The light ring has an anchoring mechanism featuring 4 long steel legs that can be pushed through the foam form, and into the soil below it. Owen and LaBelle lighted the dome of the pergola and hung the lighted sphere a few days ago. More pictures to follow.

set for the holiday

decorated and lighted steel sphere

lighted wreath

winter pots

box dressed for winter with tiger branches, pods, cones, and mixed cut evergreens

another view

the rear terrace

tiger branches and white eucalyptus

dusk

celebrating the circle, and the season.

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Posted on: November 26, 2016 24 Comments

Filed Under: Deborah Silver and Co Inc, Winter, Lighting, container planting, Holiday Tagged With: lighting winter pots, light rings, holiday containers, winter containers, holiday lighting

Red and Green

Popular wisdom says that red and green is the traditional color scheme for the Christmas holidays. Maybe it is. The December landscape in my zone is notable for its evergreens, and deciduous plants that bear red fruit. There are many theories about how those colors came to be associated with Christmas-most of them reference practices dating back to the middle ages. Insofar as holiday decor is concerned, there are lots of ways to say red and green. For those that appreciate a little variation on a much loved and traditional color scheme, there are infinite shades of red, and infinite shades of green. The lime green of this flocked pick is striking in a sassy way. The accompanying maroon red of the eucalyptus is muted, even a little moody. The combination of the respective shades of red and green is interesting. Not at all what I would call the traditional Christmas red and green. Each color is all the better for its visual relationship with the other.

On a cloudy day, the daytime color relationships are even more muted. Come dusk, that will change. The topiary form is strung with red and lime green lights and glass garlands that will pick up that light. Every so often, a cluster of shiny lime green glass balls have been wired to the form. The greens in the bottom have 600 white lights, courtesy of two strings of garland lights. What at this moment has a very reserved appearance will amp up after dark.

The lights and glass balls on these forms have to be updated once in a while. The winter weather is tough on them. This updating serves another purpose. Every year, little changes in the color and materials makes the winter pots look fresh. The dark red decor mesh is not a traditional red. It invites a second look.

My clients were surprised and pleased about this rendition of red and green. Though I have been doing their holiday pots for a number of years, no two seasons look quite the same.

The one pot off their second floor terrace is always viewed through the glass of the door wall. I think the brighter red is called for. I like it, paired with the maroon red of the eucalyptus. To follow are some pictures of other year’s red and green schemes.

So should you like your Christmas pots any color scheme at all, as long as it is red and green, you still have plenty of possibilities to choose from.

They always ask me to place a little something on the gates into their neighborhood. Here I always opt for the brightest version of red and green that I can muster. As in, Merry Christmas!

Posted on: December 25, 2015 11 Comments

Filed Under: Winter, Color, Holiday Tagged With: Christmas container arrangements, holiday containers, winter containers

Festive, Please

We do have clients who approach the holiday season with gusto. Projects like these come with a big dose of celebratory feeling attached. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all – I enjoy it. Not all work is work. Some work is satisfying enough to call it fun. The holiday work comes with some peripheral exposure to important or traditional moments in people’s lives. As in an extended family coming home for the holidays. This is work that has very personal connotations. For starters, this client wanted every pillar in front festooned with garland. It seems natural that a landscape design and installation company could make the leap to seasonal gardening.

Her lighting person had already wound strings of lights around each pillar. This was a little harsh looking.It only took a few minutes to take them down, and get the garland up first. Since we would be adding garland to 6 pillars, it seemed like fewer spirals per column would look better.

We put one length up from an uncut 50 foot roll, and unwound enough to make a decent puddle of greens at the bottom. We laid out all of the garlands in the drive, and cut them to the proper length. The top of the column has a molding. It was easy to attach the first circle of garland with a zip tie above that molding. That architectural detail would keep the entire length of garland aloft.

Yes, there were pots to do. Since there would be a lot of decorating outdoors, we kept the pots simple.

These pots will look as good all winter as they do for the holiday season. I always appreciate a client who has a preferred color scheme in mind. Once I have that, I can put materials together that I think reflects the taste of the client, and the setting. Red, green and white would predominate.

The outside of the house is festive indeed. The light strings were reattached on top of the green garland, for a much softer look.

At the door, we filled another pair of winter pots, and added an artificial garland overhead – to which we added eucalyptus, faux berries, and those beautiful bleached pine cones.

That garland was repeated on the inside, over the doorways, and on the stair railings.

Once we attached them, Marzela went back and fluffed every sprig, and made sure every element was facing towards the primary view.

The pine cones were attached facing left on the left side, facing right on the right side, and facing down at the bottom of the swoop. If this seems fussy, it is. But facing the materials on a garland has to do with establishing a visual rhythm, and repeating it. Part of the beauty of it is how it is installed.

The mantel was done in noble fir attached to a bamboo pole across the top. The drops were lengths of the fir zip tied together. In the center, a larger bloack of floral foam was stuffed with greens, poplar branches, and birds. The bleached cones from the garlands were repeated.