When I said I planted some trees I meant on the other side of the urn to try and balance it out and make it feel more cozy

it's lovely with what you planted!! and I see you have a trellis on the garage? that would be my dream!! :)

i hope i clicked on the right thing...

pretty with your cascading summer flowers. I'm in zone 6B ... not much 'living' plant material works in the fall/winter/early spring ... evergreens, decorative cabbage, and pansies is all I ever see.

and yes,

I love the ideas Brenda posted above. Your big planter needs something bigger. I'd put a 5 ft tree (cheap real one, or a fake) in it, light it up, and fill the base with more greenery, berries or plastic shiny ball decorations. It would be so fun to have such a feature to look at from the street and from inside your house! Or you could decorate the tree with bird seed balls and garlands of popcorn and cranberries, and make it a bird sanctuary.

I actually love it because it is great for playing with perspective. Can you plant some round boxwood and small italian cypress In it to shake up the usual layout?

Yes, mousemaker, every lateral and horizontal, vertical space has been utilized in the garden:)

http://marthamoments.blogspot.com/2012/11/festive-winter-urns.html
how about something like this?

I think it takes away from your house even though it is a nice planter. I would move it. The proportions are off.

how about just some giant orbs/ornaments, maybe with some greenery around it.

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ASVinteriors- so I have a boxwood ring around the base if the urn right now, would you recommend duplicating that in the urn with the cypress in the middle? That would mean a set landscape in there, but it's an intriguing idea!

I am hopeless on an iPad, but it was thinking of recreating the typical combination of tall, round and urn and turning it on its head. I will try to find examples of the traditional version.

and ...

Mousemaker and Brenda- love the links. Martha Stewart had some big urns! Great ideas. I think my husband would kill me if I moved it since it is solid cast iron and weighs over a ton literally! And that's wo any dirt in it. He got mad when I wanted it inched over a bit- so I'm stuck with it right there for now.

'stuck' with it? ... it is GORGEOUS with your summer flowers. you just have to come up with something that makes equally as gorgeous the other 6 months of the year.

I need to clean out the dead alyssum so you can see the ring of boxwoods around it more clearly.

Mousemaker - that Martha stewart link is great. I have several concrete pots in my front yard that are too much hassle to move which just might be getting the "Martha" treatment over the next few days ...

I wonder where I could get those cool large balls...

LargeBallsR-Us.com? ;)

Here is a guide

And definitely add a silver orb

i'm glad I could help someone! Brenda...I usually just chime in and add funny stuff :)

laurenkeith, i'm rolling on the floor!!! :)

Fab, fab and fab (: !

Promise us you will post a pic of whatever you do with it....

...and promise us you won't use a "lawn inflatable" in it. :)

ASVinteriors- can you give me the link to the article you posted? I would love to read the entire article but get not get it to move around on my screen-

sorry -- I would take it out. doesn't go with your home.

I saw those light balls at Sam's Club and they light up.

Be careful about any leftover potting soil freezing in a harsh winter. It doesn't matter that it's cast iron....it will still crack and rust to nothing. Protect it with a waterproof cover after removing all the potting soil.

How about playing it up by putting in a small Christmas tree in it and adding decorations? You could put some foil-wrapped boxes with giant bows under it. :)

Here you go. For info google landscape forced perspective http://www.gardendesignexposed.com/spatial_organization.html

Lit ice sculpture, or a giant margarita!

Put fish in it. If very cold In winter bring them in the house in a med size tank. With the fish put edible water plants in pots of soil, not potting mix. Eg water chestnuts etc. see a nursery for details.

If it is the holy grail from Monty Python then plant a shrubbery, dress as a maiden, and wait.

lauren, have you looked to see what commercial building with BIG planting pots do in the winter? There is a trend where I live to tear down shopping malls and replace them with high end outdoor shopping plazas (like old mainstreets) -- and they usually go all out with landscaping. There is a Wegmans plaza that has planting pots that are big enough for a family of 4 to hide in. Next time I'm there I check out what their winter display is (and snap a few pic's if it might be helpful to you).

Brenda, what are the family hiding from, the police?

I wonder if you could have the pedestal shortened, and then use it as a planter on the edge of a deck where it wouldn't overwhelm the space.

Great urn. I love it! For winter holidays I would use fresh evergreen branches to fill it and add pine cones with a bit of soft color ornaments, possibly silver with blue and some large ribbons intertwined thru it all and overflowing down the edges. Maybea cool looking obelisk in it as well to give it height dimension too. Have fun with it,,,your house is lovely and very attractive...so just keep the classy look in the urn, not a wild red/green monster look...

Well done. Please send us a pic in Summer too.

Very nice.

looks good! probably even better with some more snow!

Very beautiful indeed. I just love the red dogwood twigs... and the greenery and bow are just right!

Thank you all for your helpful ideas and humorous comments! It spurred me on to do something rather than leave it empty for half the year:):)

Thumbs up!

some of these posters do nothing but post funny stuff!!

I would plant a small flowering tree near it. It looks lonely.

Yes mousemaker, humour should be abolished .

I would kill for that huge urn! I am so jealous that you own such a beautiful container. I would change the contents every season.

Here's a picture of it lot up at night. I wish I had a better camera!