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.
We stuffed this long and large rectangular planter with a mix of boxwood and incense cedar. I like mixed greens in large planters for greater interest. The fan willow centerpiece is backed up with yellow twig dogwood; the pairing makes each individuall element look better.
Straight flame willow, and red curly willow have a very similar color, but a very different texture. These orangy brown twigs stand out against the bigger landscape gone grey. The blue of the noble fir contrasts strongly with those flames sticks; the planting looks warm and robust. The leaves of Magnolia Grandiflora have a beautful felted brown obverse; the shiny green leaves change up the texture.
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.
This is my idea of warm holiday wishes from the garden.
Our entire method of sturdily constructing an arrangement for a winter pot is predicated on one concept-you have to create the roots, and the trunk. I rarely worry about my summer pots going out of kilter. The roots of the plant secure them to the soil; plants grow upwards, towards the sun. I do not have that luxury in the winter, and Michigan has more than its fair share of stormy winter weather. So the mechanics of fastening all the materials is really important to the longevity and beauty of the piece. Tall skinny pots like these get lots of gravel in the bottom; a large centerpiece can be a big sail in disguise, just waiting for a decent wind to get airborne. We then construct a form in which to secure all the materials-glued up with industrial strength hot melt glue-that sits tight in the container. A loosely fitting form is just asking for trouble. If you have ever tried standing up in a pair of ice skates that do not lace up tight over your ankles, you know exactly what I am talking about.
These pots will have lights in the vertical dimension; a steel form provides stability as light strings are heavy. They also make it possible to cleanly and crisply mimic a geometric form. As light strings shapes are governed by gravity, a rigid form insures they will be representing the form you choose for them today, next March. 
Winding the lights around a form is time consuming. It also makes the removal of the lights tedious. Zip ties make for an easy in and easy off. It’s also easy to spot in the above picture how close we space those zip ties; the closer, the better. Light string wires have strong kinks and curves when they come out of the package, but droop they will, given time. They do not hold a graceful curve on their own; we are generous with the fasteners. The centerpiece is set through a hole in the center of the form; a stout bamboo stake at the center of the arrangement goes far enough down into the pot to insure it stays vertical. There is something so wrenching about a listing centerpiece-who needs that in the winter? 
The fantail willow is set into the form based on a determination of the front elevation. When pots are placed such that they can be seen from all sides, we work in the round. As the form will be covered in a skin of lichen mat, the form is shaved into a rounded shape.
Once the form is covered in the lichen, we add a little icing to our lichen cake-just for the holidays. Gold leaves and a luminous red berry garland-yummy. These elements can be removed after the first of the year, so the pots look good throughout the winter. A client can use the lights in the winter-or not. The topiary form has a decidedly dressy look to it, with the added attraction of absolutely no maintenance. It will still look fine come next April, provided the construction is sound. 
Getting the installation to match in a pair of pots is harder than you think. I try to work on pairs side by side. Some pairs of pots that demand a very formal arrangement, I make sure that one person does both. Everyone’s eye and hand is noticeably all their own. My rule of thumb-I work on the second pot, never taking my eyes off the first.
Your winter pots are the best they will ever be, the first day they are done. Unlike a landscape that fills out, and blossoms with age, there is no growing involved. They need to be constructed tall, wide, and robust from the beginning. The winter is a season that can handle a little unedited excess, with a dash of over the top sparkly, with aplomb.