Container Plantings for Wintry Settings
Instead of retiring your pots for winter, fill them with eye-catching combos of cold-hardy plants and cuttings
![winter container arrangement under a wreath](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/16142546/mainIMG_1036-Endres-MN-10-BS.jpg)
Most gardeners store away their pots before winter hits, but not Scott Endres, co-owner of Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis. 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. Here are nine more of his winter designs.
Classic iron urn
![iron urn container with eucalyptis, peacock feathers, and a large golden ribbon](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19144654/Classic-Iron-Urn.jpg)
- Preserved baby eucalyptus
- Brunnia
- Western red cedar
- Princess pine
- Yellow-twig dogwood
- Peacock feathers
- Bleached kuwa sticks
- Fraser fir
Cast stone container
![cast stone container with orange berries and various evergreen branches](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19144758/Cast-stone-container.jpg)
- Weeping willow
- Princess pine
- Banana sticks
- Preserved eucalyptus
- Paper birch bark
- Orange winterberry
- Western red cedar
- Dried fern fiddleheads
- Orange winterberry
- Black spruce
- Pheasant feathers
- Bark wrapped wire
- Buddha nut pods (Pterygota alata)
- Moss-covered orbs
- Boxwood
- Grape vine
Ceramic bronze due
![two matching winter containers with branches and pinecones](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19144847/Ceramic-Bronze-due.jpg)
- Balsam fir wreath
- Jeffrey pine cones
- Norway pine
- African knobs
- Red-tipped pussy willow
- Southern magnolia
- Lemon cypress
- Cinnamon sticks
- Pepperberry tips
- Sequoia cones
- Reindeer moss
- Spanish moss
Double rice containers
![matching winter containers with orange berries and pinecones](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19144931/Double-Rice-Bucket.jpg)
- Boxwood
- Paper birch
- Orange winterberry
- Pheasant feathers
- Princess pine
- Southern magnolia
- Sugar pine cones
- Blue-berried juniper
- Incense cedar
- Cinnamon sticks
- Polished white stones
Window scene
![winter container arrangement under a wreath made of red branches](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19144530/Window-scene.jpg)
- Norway pine
- Sugar pine cones
- Flame willow
- Preserved reindeer moss
- Orange winterberry
- Southern magnolia
- Paper birch stems
- Paper birch tips
- Rose hips
Fiber-clay classic
![stone container with pink berries and branches](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19145025/Fiberclay-Classic.jpg)
- Redtwig dogwood
- Boxwood
- Shore pine
- Pepperberry tips
- Sugar pine cones
Hypertuffa
![hypertuffa container with conifer branches and cut birch](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19145129/Hypatuffa.jpg)
- Paper birch tips
- Black spruce
- Paper birch stems
- Norway spruce cones
- Norway pine
- Sugar pine cones
- Manzanita branch
- Manzanita branch
Contemporary aluminum cubes
![three contemporary-style winter containers with cut birch and evergreens](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19145214/Contemporary-aluminum-cubes.jpg)
- Paper birch
- Variegated boxwood
- Princess pine
- Starfish
- Noble fir
- Polished black stones
Faux bois three
![three matching winter containers with mini evergreens and pink berries](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2011/12/19194730/Faux-bois-three.jpg)
- Lemon cypress
- Cinnamon sticks
- Pepperberry tips
- Sequoia cones
- Reindeer moss
- Spanish moss
Comments
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!
Thanks Steve, they are good inspiration. Wait until you see my pathetic attempt...lol.
Lovely images!
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.
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.
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