Sadly, our fall urn plantings have completed their life cycle and have moved on to the pearly gates of compost heaven, but fret not plant lovers! Last week, gardener Steph and I finished the installation of the winter season urn plantings, and we are quite pleased with them.
We decided to split the design duties, with each of us tackling one and then repeating the design in three other urns, though we made sure to select plants that would reflect a coherent sensibility throughout the plantings.

As her focal point, Steph chose the full-bodied and wonderfully scented Elaeagnus x ebbinggii (commonly called Silverberry or Russian olive), ‘Gilt Edge’ for its strong vertical quality and the buttery yellow against green variegation of the leaves. I chose as my main plant the charming yellow and green foliaged Ilex aquifolium ‘Gold coast’ as a shorter and slightly more prickly continuation of this theme.

Steph could not resist tossing in Gaultheria procumbens, or Teaberry, to beautify the urn as this red berried little beauty does for woodland floors across the country.

I planted a false holly called Osmanthus heterophyllus or ‘Ogon’ to light up the design with its chartreuse, gold and green foliage that plays exceedingly well against the Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon japonicus ‘Nigra’) that we both used to add a rich black but fine texture to the urns.

The last plant we used were different cultivars of Scotch Heather, Calluna vulgaris. These compact little shrubs have a glow to them in the winter time that seems to produce heat and warm up everything near them. These are all evergreen plants and the majority will be planted in in the park grounds come springtime, so they will miss out on” compost heaven”! Come take a look and then come take another look when they get the “holiday” treatment later in December. See you then.

Happily playing in the dirt,

Gardener Matthew