The lion’s share of what we offer gardeners for winter and holiday pots and decor are fresh cut natural materials. The fall harvest includes any natural material which is a celebration of the garden, and a feast for admiring eyes. Just today we took delivery of this load of fresh cut birch poles in three sizes. A tree farmer far north of us waded into thigh high water to cut these birch poles for us-they have had a lot of rain this season. I greatly appreciate his effort. How thrilled I am with this picture. Big numbers of hefty birch branches are stable and striking, represented in four hefty steel boxes from our company Branch. This is a picture which tells our tale. Want to be comfortable with nature? Be exposed, learn-and understand. Looking for beauty that goes beyond any human construct-study nature.
The arrival of the fresh cut twigs is a sure sign of the winter season. We deal with a number of twig farmers. There are those who grow oranges, tomatoes and avocados, but we do business with farmers that grow twigs. The art of growing twiggy shrubs with the idea of harvesting the current year’s growth at the end of the season is a practice known as coppicing. Coppice wood has a long and varied history, in both gardening and agriculture. Twiggy and woody stems have been harvested for fencing for livestock and vegetable gardens. Branched twigs provided the first plant stakes for lax growing perennials. Woven twigs make great vine supports.
The nursery industry world wide is responsible for the breeding of shrub cultivars whose twigs have great and enduring color. Spring Meadow Nursery, in our country, is both proactive and successful in breeding shrubs of note in stem, leaf, and flower. In the late fall, I am happy to be able to offer fresh cut twigs that are enchanting in color and form. Stick week-a favorite week of my gardening year.
Curly copper willow might be my personal favorite. The glossy stems are cinnamon brown. Just a bunch or two can endow a winter display with a volume, texture, and motion that delights the eye. The striking color will persist in completely exposed locations throughout the toughest winter.
Let’s talk about grapes. A few vines some 15 years old cover the steel pergola at the shop. The sinewy vines have been trained to wind round the poles of that pergola. Grapes need a very strong structure on which to grow. The leaves cover the pergola roof during the heat of the summer. The clusters of grapes-beautiful in the early fall. Those vines, once harvested, are the basis for these deer sculptures. Our supplier owns a vineyard. She makes sculptures from the trimmings of the grape vines by forming them over handmade steel armatures.
The cuttings of the vines can provide a material focal point for a winter gesture. Detroit Garden Works is stocking for this winter season rolls of muscadine grape vine-twigs in the round. These long rolls of twigs in a curled form is the focus of this year’s winter decor. We interfere with the natural curves of these rolled vines as little as possible. They have a life all their own, which we mean to feature. The most beautiful celebrations of the winter season are about letting the natural materials shine.
When we dressed our linden trees with the grape vines, we following the vine lead. Once the vines were round the linden tree trunks, we added rusted steel lead garlands. This look to me is a good partnership.
The red bud pussy willow in the fall is strikingly beautiful. I use it over and over again in winter and holiday containers. More often than not, these cut twigs survive the winter, bloom, and leaf out. Miraculous, this level of giving.
It is stick week. What sticks and twigs do you have in your garden that might provide a foundation for your winter garden expression? Looking to winter, those woody plants which have grown and matured might enlighten your winter garden.
We spent over a week tearing apart a thirty year old landscape for this client. They had decided that though their kids were grown and gone, they would stay, and renovate both the inside and out of their family home. They had not ever spent much time outdoors; a very small back yard with no privacy from neighboring terrraces and play structures kept them indoors. New screening, and an enlarged gravel addition to their terrace opened the door to a new living space for them. The finishing touch-a collection of Italian style, English made concrete planters.
Their children are all coming home for Thanksgiving; they asked if I could dress the pots in their winter coats in time. They are very excited at the prospect of their kids seeing how their home has been transformed in the past 3 months, and the landscape is part of that. Four of the five pots on the rear terrace would be planted for winter. As they have little in the way of outdoor lighting in the back, we installed lights in every pot. The electrician just installed outdoor plugs for them yesterday, in time for the holiday gathering. 
Preserved and dyed eucalyptus provdes a leafy texture much like the magnolia. The chocolate brown color is surprisingly lightfast outdoors. The container looks dreesed for the weather; the colors perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday will go on looking good as winter settles in. 
The pots are positioned to provide good views of the outdoors from the inside. I will move pots from a summer location to a winter one, if need be. I spend a lot more time looking at my garden in the winter from indoors; I am outdoors as much as possible in the summer. These pots can help alleviate that cooped up feeling invariably creeps up on any northern gardener. 
After the rear terrace pots were installed, they called-could I please do three more. Though they plan to replace these front door pots in the spring, they are not the center of attention here. Red bud pussy willow and dark purple eucalyptus make a formal and quietly beautiful statement at the door. My landscape crews construct and install all of this work; they do such a beautiful job. Clients who have winter pots done for the first time are surprised at what a difference they make. I hear about how nice it feels to have something beautiful to look at outdoors at this time.
The side door has the same pot as the front, but a different treatment. As variety is a very precious commodity this time of year, I avoid repeating the same materials everywhere. These snow branches are all plastic; they look just as good up close, as they do in this picture. I try to include a third, mid-level element in all the winter pots; just sticks and greens is a little too spare for my taste. 