::31 days::day nineteen::

Nineteenth day completed.  I must say, I’d love to catch up on the three days I’ve missed.  It’ll make me feel better about the whole “finishing the job” thing.

The reason for this post is 50% challenge, 50% for future reference.  This is the second year that I’ve helped a very dear saint in my church with the flowers.  And this is the second year that I have “winterized” the pots.  The goal is to fill the pots with greenery found throughout our church property and decorate them with zero cost.

Last year, I did not record exactly what I put in the pots but I know that a few types of the stems looked absolutely despicable by February and I was desperate to remove them by March.

So hopefully, this blog post will help me remember for next year and I can remember what worked best.

::a full shot::

And, also, I claim no authority in naming these plants or materials used.  I typically use very botanically correct terms such as, “…the green sturdy plant”, the “brown prickly one”, etc…!

I started with tall sticks for height directly in the center.

::Then, I started with a base plant.  I’d saved a lot of pruning for winterizing the pots and I knew exactly which bushes I planned to use.   There’s nothing attractive about the base but I just fill it in to cover up the dirt and get started.::

::Next, I put in these brown, prickly weeds.  I really think they are weeds.  Truly::

::Holly clippings came next.  These should last wonderfully through the winter season::

::I found this low lying coniferous plant with cute, little pinecones on the stems.  Several clippings went into each pot.::

::Lastly, I finished up with some hydrangeas cut from our garden.  This particular bush has nice, upright stems so the hydrangea blooms won’t fall over.::


So there you have it.  I didn’t stress nearly as much this year and it took me a relatively short amount of time.  Last year, I labored over which types of greenery to put in the pots and I also had a large variety.  I tried to keep it simple this time around.  The first two pots on Wednesday took about an hour and half to complete.  Thursday, three pots took the same amount of time which I considered fantastic.

One thing I plan to try different than last year is keeping the soil moist.  So…even in the dead of winter, I may be pouring water on the pots.  However, we will see…!  :)



I can’t wait for a Sunday spent in church tomorrow.  How about you?!!

REBECCA.