I must admit that around this time of year I am looking far and wide for original ideas for winter pots.  The trick is I want winter pots to be…

• original with something more inclusive than pointy Christmas trees and pansies,
• have evergreen plants with shades of blue green, lime green and deep green, if possible,
• something the deer don’t eat,
• something you don’t have to water, and
• Something with bright cheerful holiday colors!

Here are some ensembles we tried this season.

The blue green plant in this pot is a perennial called a euphorbia-robbiae. The acuba gold dust (tall in the back) and some rainbow moss in front add the different hues of green to the palette.   These can all take it shady and be planted in the ground in the spring.

The soft textured tassel fern is one of my favorite.  This combined with the delicate tricyrtis sininome perennial is lovely.

The third pot sits as a centerpiece to a large cutting garden.  It must always look fabulous and different, especially when the perennial garden looks vacant and cut back in the winter.   The plants here include ornamental cabbage which surrounds the center planting of rosemary. Burgundy heuchera also interlaces with the cabbage while a white blooming  Shasta daisy variety called “Leucanthemum aglaia” tops is off!

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.