FOREVER FESTIVE

MAKE YOUR MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS LAST ALL YEAR WITH A TREE YOU CAN DECORATE, THEN PLANT IN YOUR GARDEN

1 BE BOLD WITH GOLD

These little northern white cedars (Thuja occidentalis ‘Europe Gold’) are just hanging out for Christmas decorations. While red and gold are traditional yuletide shades, opt for different colours to tie in with the garden’s theme – pink and deep maroon, a blast of orange or the classic purity of white.

If good things come in small packages tucked under your decorated Christmas tree, better things come in pots, like a tree you can keep forever. Instead of tossing it once the needles start dropping, choose one you can keep, either still in its pot on your balcony or in a sunny spot in your garden where it can add height and grandeur to your beds for years to come, plus shelter for birds and other wildlife. It’s the tree that keeps on giving!

2 GO WHITE AND GREEN

Summer makes the perfect time for Christmas, as white flowering phlox springs out of the greenery like a wreath for the elegant white spruce (Picea glauca) . It’s also a great place to hide Easter eggs a few months from now!

3 GO YELLOW AND GREEN

Plant a new tree after every Christmas and watch a row of northern white cedars – ‘Europe Gold’ – become a beautiful lacy screen.

4 GO RED AND GREEN

A mass planting of fire-engine red crocosmias, with graceful arching stems, enhances the festive mood, particularly around the twisted, dark green foliage of the northern white cedar ‘De Groots Spire’.

5 DECK THE DECK!