Ideal Greenery Plants for Winter Flower Arranging

At Christmas, it is always fun to have lots of color, fresh scents and flowers to help cheer you through the darkness doldrums. I often like to give flower arrangements as gifts and use services like Harry & David's or FTD to send them. Sometimes I look up a local florist when I want to send a specific type of flower, for instance, a fuchsia basket for a birthday. A lot of the time I buy them at Thriftway, or QFC where they have many bundles of cut flowers and take them to a hostess. Buying cut flowers and arranging them yourself can save you money. Often, for less than $15, I can create 3-5 arrangements and have them in several rooms of the house. Arranged cut flowers or live plants are also really nice to add to the center of wreath.

One way I can make unusual flower arrangements from the same bundles of cut flowers is to have plants in the yard that I can use in my arrangements. The best plants to grow in wintertime provide the greenery used as backbone in the arrangement.

In Picture 1, I've followed Malcolm Hillier's advice from Flower Arranging for creating a facing arrangement. In creating one of these, you fill your container with wet foam, then use greenery to cover up the pot edges and supply the backbone of the arrangement. Greenery used in this arrangement include:

Yew (Taxus)

This time of year, or in late autumn, our yew has usually almost grown into the roof of the house, so just by pruning it back, I get nice cylindrical pieces with tiny evergreen leaves. Use this for upright center greens.

Sweet Bayleaf (Laurel Nobilis)

This plant's leaves are used in cooking. It took us several years to establish a plant, but now, this time of year it needs pruning and the leaves smell heavenly sweet and stay green for a long time. Use this stuck into the edges to hide the pot.

Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster Horizontalis)

There are many varieties of Cotoneaster. I grow a variety that lies low to the ground, usually less than 3' tall and use it to cascade down a wall. The plant flowers in spring, often with the red berries still intact. The deer browse on them and help me keep them pruned. Use this over a fern leaf on the side to extend the area of the arrangement and to provide color.

In Picture 2, I've added Alstromeria and Chrysanthemums bought at the store, Money Plant seedpods used for a fine light spray in back, and Christmas Camellia cut from the yard. In a second arrangement see Picture 4, I used red carnation, ivy and clematis seeds combined with the Alstromeria and Chrysanthemums and Viburnum Tinus.

Item 1, Picture 3: Chrysanthemum

I still have some in bloom despite having had frosts. The few flowering are rather stunted.

Item 2, Picture 3: Christmas Camellia (Camellia Sasanqua or Camellia x Vernalis (Yuletide))

Blooms near Christmas time for nearly a month and has a single petal flower with large yellow stamens. Blooms may freeze but the buds will wait and open later.

Item 3, Picture 3: (Viburnum Tinus Spring Bouquet)

This plant blooms through February, just starting right now and has blue-black berries the birds love. It is evergreen, a compact variety and grows to about 8' tall and 4' wide.

Item 4, Picture 3: (Skimmia)

This plant comes in male and female bushes. Both get red berries but the female bush flowers and has fewer berries. The flower scent is incredibly sweet.

I saved the containers used when I was given floral arrangements as a gift. I also copied how the original arrangement was put together, with layers of steadily decreasing sizes and deepening colors. The foam and additional containers can be bought at a craft supply store like Michaels. Most of the branches need to be cut with a pruner.

I also used a local variety of fern whose name I don't know. These can be split and planted or grown from starts bought at the nurseries. They like lots of mulch when planted and I used crumbling bits of rotted maple log at the bottom of the hole when I planted them. The usual produce new fronds in spring so cutting some of them this time of year will help prune the plant and allow the new stems to flourish.

Given a warmer period when the ground isn't frozen, this time of year is a good time to plant trees and shrubs since they are dormant. Most nurseries have shorter hours during wintertime.

Botanica edited by R. G. Turner was used for the latin names and has pictures of most these plants and explanations on their growing needs.

By Sheri Fresonke Harper