Tis the season to start to transform our summer or fall containers into winter ones. I know many of the stores have started carrying the outdoor greens and ready made arrangements already. I personally think it's a little too early to buy them especially if you want the arrangement to look good in January and February.
Too early to buy but not too early to plan. Here are some tips if you'd like to make your own arrangement, for yourself or even for a gift. You need:* A
removable pot that fits in your container, it's often easier to make the arrangement elsewhere (garage, backyard) and then transfer it to your container out front when you are happy with it.
* The pot can be filled with tightly compacted
soil or Oasis.
* Oasis is the floral foam (looks like a green brick) that you soak slowly in water. It holds a lot of water, which really helps to keep your greens looking good until early spring. If using Oasis you will need
a bucket of water to soak the bricks in.
* Also for Oasis the trick is to
pack the container full of oasis so that there are no large gaps, at least 3 bricks per container and the bricks can be easily cut and stacked to fit the container. Also don't worry if when stacking the bricks your Oasis is higher than the pot. Just
tape down with florist tape so that the fit is really tight and so that the container can support the branches. This is the best part of using it as the greens can now go into the foam horizontally all along the edge of the pot
creating a nice drape.
* The most important point when designing with foam is take your time...
once you put a stem into foam you should not remove it... once it's in work around it.
* I suggest using
3 different types of evergreens (i.e. Cedar, Pine, Spruce). Each has a different texture and will fill in the container differently, I start with the pine and then fill in with others.
Now you can get creative...* Here you can
go with a theme of outdoor ornaments or use things you have around the yard.
*
Pine cones, large or small, just wire them to a stick and insert into the foam or soil.
*
Sumach branches, dried hydrangeas, magnolia leaves, holly.
* I like putting a
pomegranate on a skewer and adding that for a pop of colour.
* And lastly some
colour sticks for height, many use red dogwood but there are a lot of options like birch branches, curly willow or even green dogwood.
Pictures above and below are a few examples of ones that I have helped create over the years: 
Have fun and be creative. You can also purchase a "base" arrangement from a local nursery and add to it to make it your own.
The key is that whether you create your container in, soil or oasis,
you need to add water to it periodically over the winter to help give additional moisture to the greens.
If you have
any further questions please send me an email and I will be happy to answer them! And
if you go ahead and make your own this year, please send me a picture; I would love to see it!
