Festive first impressions count, so why not upgrade your winter porch planters this season with these smart, frost-hardy ideas. With temperatures plummeting and snow in the air, potted plants often won’t thrive, so it makes sense to swap them for a vibrant array of cut foliage, berry laden branches, seedheads and seedpods.
There’s plenty of creative scope with a colorful and tactile feast of natural materials to choose from. Evergreen shrubs and trees offer textured branches including fragrant pine, fir, spruce, icy toned eucalyptus and juniper while show stopping stems come in numerous striking shades from frosty white birch to vivid cornus in chartreuse, deep red and scarlet. Add in plenty of sculptural seed pods, pine cones and glossy fruit for a stylish flourish and you can create a welcoming stoop that’s the envy of the neighbourhood.
One of many chic front porch winter décor ideas set to inspire you, these three Christmas porch décor ideas are the ideal excuse to take time out and indulge in a spot of hands-on creativity.
Festive berry and seedhead planter idea
A bold and dramatic rectangular planter that’s simply bursting with bold seasonal charm. Backed with a mix of tall, slender stems of deep red dogwood and toning glossy ilex berries, it’s the perfect design for adding dazzling height and impact right next to the front door.
Designed by Amber Richman of Cool, Green and Shady, leathery magnolia leaves are carefully added in between the berried stems, their russet-colored underside intensifying the vivid festive glow, while also bulking out the rear of the arrangement.
Cut swathes of silver fir mixed with warmer toned yellow conifer – Chamaecyparis – spill over the planter’s edges, creating a soft and voluminous feel.
These are interspersed with the cool, silvery tones of two types of eucalyptus: the round, sculptural leaves of Eucalyptus cinerea – also known as Argyle apple – and the distinctive flat and oval shaped Eucalyptus populus.
More magnolia leaves – this time with the glossy green side of the foliage facing forward – fill the centre of the planter, along with snippings of oregonia; with its tiny upright leaves.
For extra definition and a stylish wintery touch sugar pinecones mounted on stout florist wire are irregularly nestled amongst the foliage along with whitewashed wooden flowers available from Walmart and cup-like natural bell pods.
Falling in love with being a florist as a teenager, Amber opened Cool Green & Shady at the young age of 21, and has been living her dream ever since! With an amazing team to support her, Cool Green & Shady has grown to be Toronto's premier florist for retail, corporate and weddings.
Fruits of the forest idea
Lose yourself in the sumptuous depths of this foraged winter planter. With cascading boughs of fir, berries, pine cones and bold yet curious seedheads all topped with vivid soaring dogwood, it’s a wild and natural celebration of magical winter woodlands.
The perfect display for a pair of footed urns or elevated planters, choose simple and gently rounded containers, rather than angular or overly fussy, as this will allow the myriad of organic textures, sweeping lines and tones to truly shine. Walmart have a good selection.
Created by Kiersten Olsen of Your Planter By Design the tall dogwood stems go in first, adding instant height before the soft, arching mix of fir and conifer cuttings are pushed in round the rim of the planter.
Gently softening the container’s outline, the cascading foliage is carefully placed to fill out the pot, quietly guiding the eye from the tallest twigs to the planter’s rim forming a hazy dome.
Natural treasures are neatly tucked in between the evergreen boughs, providing tantalising glimpses of vibrant colour and texture. Varying from soft velvety seedheads to two-toned magnolia leaves the result is wildly rich and quietly dramatic.
Kiersten Olsen is the owner of Your Planter By Design, a Calgary-based business specializing in custom seasonal planter arrangements for homes and businesses throughout Calgary and the surrounding area. Known for creating elevated, design-forward planters, she focuses on bringing style, colour, and personality to outdoor spaces in every season. When she’s not creating arrangements, Kiersten enjoys spending time with her husband and four children, often finding ways to unwind and enjoy the outdoors together.
A touch of winter fire idea
Stop home visitors in their tracks this Winter holiday with this stunning bowl of branches and blooms. Brimming with luxurious foliage, tones and textures it’s jewel-like beauty will keep you pausing to discover yet another seasonal gem.
Designed by Associate Michael Dziennik, at Oehme, van Sweden, this planter is a great example of how to supplement a growing base of winter hardy planting with dramatic and decorative holiday boughs.
Carrying color and interest well into the new year, the extra height and form the branches bring, transforms a simple bowl-shaped pot into a spectacular centrepiece.
If you, like us, are intrigued to know more, Michael opted for a base planting of delightfully crinkle-leaved Winterbor Kale – Amazon sell the seeds – with vibrant orange blotch pansy, plus a standout 'White Pigeon' ornamental cabbage.
Topped with boughs of spruce, eucalyptus branches, and fiery orange berry winterberry branches, simply cut and pushed into the centre of the bowl to elevate the arrangement’s outline, this designer look is surprisingly easy to achieve.
Sharp and sturdy secateurs are essential for cleanly cutting thick boughs such as spruce, so give these Fiskar PowerGear2 pruners from Amazon a try.
Landscape Architect Michael Diziennik, an Associate at OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS, develops and oversees the installation of many of the firm’s complex planting plans – for garden beds, in plant containers, and on rooftop applications. His broad horticultural knowledge and artistic eye result in arresting and captivating plant compositions.
If the creative satisfaction and admiring comments gained from making festive porch planters has inspired you, then look at these winter gardening ideas. From expert planter tips on Simple yet stylish ways to spruce them up for winter to the frost hardy perennials worth growing there’s no excuse not to try something new.
