Has anyone else noticed how early people are putting up their Christmas trees and lights this year? The holiday season, with all of its look and feels, is a balm for a tough year.
There’s more to holiday greenery than a wreath on your front door or a Tannenbaum in your living room. In the spirit of the season, we’ve come up with some plantings that can help you deck your landscape.
The Holly & the Ivy
You can’t go wrong with an ornamental holly with a traditional look and red and green palette. ILEX mes Castle Spire, also known as Holly Castle Spire, offers vivid red berries and characteristic green foliage. It is pollinated by ILEX mes Castle Wall.
Proven Winners Castle Spire®
Commonly (and fondly) known as English Ivy, HEDERA helix Baltica is a dark green groundcover plant with a hint of purple in the winter months. It thrives in Zone 4 and spreads up to two feet.
Greensleeves
Boxwoods look lovely in early winter and are a festive touch for any holiday one may be celebrating this time of year. The BUXUS mic Wintergreen variety holds its green foliage throughout the winter months, welcoming you and guests to your home as a hedge or foundation planting. This particular shrub grows up to three feet in height and spread.
BUXUS mic Wintergreen
How Lovely Are Your Branches
There’s a reason that dogwood branches are used in decorative holiday containers. We love the CORNUS stolonfera Arctic Fire° for its cheerful bright red stems that look picture-perfect in the snow. Performing well in Zone 2, this shrub grows up to four feet.
CORNUS stolonfera Arctic Fire°
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Your landscape will be rocking in all four seasons with the addition of a majestic Norway Spruce. This fast-growing conifer, with the formal name PICEA abies, can tower up to 40 feet. Trim it with lights or leave it natural – this evergreen is an eye pleaser wherever it’s planted. Come winter, it will also provide a haven for birds.
Another evergreen with holiday and year-round interest is the Fat Albert Spruce, officially the Picea pungens ‘Fat Albert’. This charmer is smaller, reaching 10 to 15 feet in height and 10 feet in width within 10 years and eventually 40 by 20 feet. It is tolerant to zones 2-8.
Fat Albert Spruce
The beauty of many of these plantings is the fact that you can use them for your containers and arrangements. Snip a spring of holly to add to a centerpiece. Trim some boxwood, dogwood or evergreen boughs and branches and tuck them into pots or use as indoor greenery. After all, it’s a season of sharing, too.