The Dirt

Container Plantings for Wintry Settings

A cast stone container designed by Scott Endres is one of seven shown below. Read on to see the components identified.
Photo/Illustration: Brandi Spade

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Most gardeners store away their pots before winter hits, but not Scott Endres, co-owner of Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When temperatures drop, he fills his containers with eye-catching combos of cold-hardy plants and cuttings. Six of Scott’s wintry designs were featured in his article “It’s never too cold for containers”, published in the November/December 2011 issue of Fine Gardening (#142).

Here are six more designs, which didn’t fit into the article but are too inspiring not to share.

Classic iron container Photo/Illustration Brandi Spade

1. Preserved Baby Eucalyptus 2. Brunnia 3. Western Red Cedar 4. Princess Pine
5. Yellow Twig Dogwood 6. Peacock Feathers 7. Bleached Kuwa Sticks 8. Fraser Fir

Cast stone container Photo/Illustration: Brandi Spade

1. Weeping Willow   2. Princess Pine   3. Bananna Sticks   4. Preserved Eucalyptus
5. Paper Birch Bark   6. Orange Winterberry   7. Western Red Cedar
8. Dried Fern Fiddleheads   9. Orange Winterberry   10. Black Spruce
11. Pheasant Feathers   12. Bark-wrapped Wire   13. Buddah Nut Pods
14. Moss-covered Orbs   15. Boxwood   16. Grape Vine

Rice Containers Photo/Illustration Brandi Spade

1. Boxwood   2. Paper Birch   3. Orange Winterberry   4. Pheasant Feathers
5. Princess Pine   6. Southern Magnolia   7. Sugar Pine Cones
8. Blue Berried Juniper   9. Insense Cedar   10. Cinnamon Sticks
11. Polished White Stones

Fiberclay classic Photo/Illustration: Brandi Spade

1. Red Twig Dogwood 2. Boxwood 3. Shore Pine
4. Pepperberry Tips 5. Sugar Pine Cones

Hypertufa Photo/Illustration: Brandi Spade

1. Paper Birch Tips 2. Black Spruce 3. Paper Birch Stems
4. Norway Spruce Cones 5. Norway Pine 6. Sugar Pine Cones 7. Manzanita Branch
8. Manzanita Branch

Faux bois three Photo/Illustration: Brandi Spade

1. Lemon Cypress 2. Cinnamon Sticks 3. Pepperberry Tips
4. Sequoia Cones 5. Reindeer Moss 6. Spanish Moss

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Comments

terieLR 01/23/2012
Okay, so now it's January and I am ready to go out and 'spruce' up these drab window boxes with your fresh ideas! Thank you Scott for sharing your talents!
user-4691082 12/19/2017
Thanks Steve, they are good inspiration. Wait until you see my pathetic attempt...lol.
user-7008735 12/19/2017
Lovely images!
user-7008822 12/19/2017
Great ideas. Thank you for this detailed information. I only wish we could see pictures at a bigger size since it is hard to see the details of the composition in this small images.
user-4359501 12/20/2017
I'd like to know more about the constuction and how-to. Do you have a pot filled with soil and then just push the branches into the soil? If I do that the high winds here will blow the branches out of the containers. Maybe incorpoarate wire? Wish you gave us more "how" and not just "what." Maybe I will dig back in my past issues and see what is covered in the original article.