This seat's taken (so make your own!)

Several types of evergreen trimmings are accented with oregonium, red seeded eucalyptus, and a few silk flowers, in this chair turned planter.

Last month our garden club made evergreen arrangements, to give winter interest to our summer flower pots. Most garden club meetings center around the growing of beautiful flowers, tending succulent vegetables, and maintaining pest-free gardens. Nobody asks for my advice in these matters.  Sheesh. I grow some pretty flowers, and not all of them are the dandelions that my favorite rabbit likes to nibble on.

Same idea, but this time I mixed some coppery accents, tufts of dried grass, and wired ribbon into the evergreens in this chair.

Needless to say, when winter comes around, and my pathetic attempts at front yard greenery look no worse than anyone else', I have a certain sense of reprieve. When November rolls around, and we stuff our summer planters with evergreens and other goodies, I even have a sense of accomplishment. This I actually do well enough that a few people even pay me to do theirs.   

The planters are made by creating baskets of chicken wire, nailed into the chair frame.  These are lined with burlap (I use recycled coffee bags) and filled with dirt.  Come winter, the dead flowers are removed, and to keep top-heavy branches from falling out, a grid of twigs is threaded across the top.  I insert evergreen branch tips into this, and keep the soil moist until the temperature drops below freezing.

My own planter took a beating in the wind a few days ago, and now needs just a wee bit of fluffing, plus about half a spool of wire to prevent that happening again, so the planters shown here are a pair I did for someone else. Those with a good memory might recognize the chairs from a post last December, but I promise these are new arrangements. 

Happy holiday decorating!  If you want to try this yourself, and the basic directions I've given aren't quite detailed enough, feel free to post questions in the "comments" below, or email me at dawnmariedelara@gmail.com.