When the evergreens have turned brown and its time to make a
spring statement on your doorstep, Elaine Martin of Vintage Gardener has some
simple ideas that will say welcome in style.
First of all, if you’re still dealing with frozen soil in
that outdoor urn or container, help spring along by pouring generous amounts of
boiling water over the soil. Don’t use this method with a plastic pot that
might melt though. Alternatively, if the container is not too heavy, bring it indoors
overnight to defrost, Martin suggests.
Now your container is ready to reflect a new season,
beginning with an assortment of branches. Martin’s example features curly
willow, which she forced into sprouting a bit of green along with pussy
willows, the perennial spring favourite. Either stuff the branches into an
empty urn or stab them into the thawed soil. This arrangement will work on its
own, or it can evolve through a couple of other steps.
It’s still too cold to utilize annuals but you can add some
ivy to the base of the display. If it succumbs to frost, it will still appear
green, although you’ll want to replace it with annuals when the weather warms
up.
Martin recommends a surprise element in the form of birch
logs. They give height to the display and evoke woodland. And just as many
woodland gardens are accented with under-plantings of daffodils, so is this
entry arrangement. Not only do they enhance the woodland appeal, they are
hearty enough to weather the spring climate. Martin says the daffodils provide
“a little bridge” between the seasons until annuals can be planted.
“One thing that’s important is to work with the container. We
want to bring the colour of the container up into the arrangement,” explains
Martin, whose creations can be seen at her shop in Toronto’s historic Distillery District.
Martin chose the soft shades of the pussy willow and birch
along with the yellow of the daffodils to work with the tarnished vanilla
colour of the urn she filled. She explains that it’s important not to take away
from the look of the urn and play with the colour. With that in mind, it’s
possible to create curb appeal, add some colour and create an evolving and
grand outdoor entry display at your home.
As a home stager with Dan Cooper’s Royal LePage Real Estate,
Martin is extremely conscious of curb appeal and of course that also applies to
her business, Vintage Gardener.
For a look at her creations visit
www.vintagegardener.com.
