10 Easy Winter Container Ideas for Holiday Curb Appeal
Dress up your entryway with a festive potted arrangement to celebrate the season
With just a handful of seasonal elements — lush evergreens, vibrant berries, structural branches and twinkling lights — it’s relatively easy to craft an eye-catching arrangement to carry your entryway gracefully through the holidays and beyond. Take a look at the following 10 ideas that all showcase winter’s beauty and see if any spark your inspiration. They range in complexity from simple potted shrubs and conifers to more elaborate, multi-ingredient arrangements, many of which don’t require potting soil.
2. Touch of Fruit
In this arrangement by Hursthouse Landscape for a Chicago home, a palette of green, bronze and white creates a look that’s both elegant and understated. Dark conifer branches form the backdrop, while magnolia leaves, seeded eucalyptus and sprigs of artificial white berries add texture and variety. Then comes the surprise: a cluster of bright green apples that instantly draws the eye.
If you’re concerned that local wildlife might nibble fresh fruit, you can spray it with a natural repellent made of hot chili pepper mixed with water or use artificial fruit instead.
In this arrangement by Hursthouse Landscape for a Chicago home, a palette of green, bronze and white creates a look that’s both elegant and understated. Dark conifer branches form the backdrop, while magnolia leaves, seeded eucalyptus and sprigs of artificial white berries add texture and variety. Then comes the surprise: a cluster of bright green apples that instantly draws the eye.
If you’re concerned that local wildlife might nibble fresh fruit, you can spray it with a natural repellent made of hot chili pepper mixed with water or use artificial fruit instead.
3. Classic Boxwoods
If time is scarce this holiday season, you can’t go wrong with the pared-back simplicity of potted boxwood (Buxus spp., USDA zones 5 to 9; find your zone) for a doorstep arrangement that is low-maintenance and looks good year-round.
Consider wrapping your boxwoods with strings lights, hanging a few miniature ornaments on their branches or tucking sprigs of colorful winter berries around the base for a more festive touch.
If time is scarce this holiday season, you can’t go wrong with the pared-back simplicity of potted boxwood (Buxus spp., USDA zones 5 to 9; find your zone) for a doorstep arrangement that is low-maintenance and looks good year-round.
Consider wrapping your boxwoods with strings lights, hanging a few miniature ornaments on their branches or tucking sprigs of colorful winter berries around the base for a more festive touch.
4. Tiers of Color
A trio of colorful containers placed by the front door boosts curb appeal from a distance. This arrangement by Adorn in Oklahoma City uses repetition for a high-impact look. The two taller containers feature a potted evergreen at the center, encircled by layers of red berries and pine cones, with mixed evergreen garlands spilling softly over the rim. The smaller pot follows the same formula, anchored by a potted boxwood. If you’re using living plants in your holiday displays, remember to water them throughout the season — and consider transplanting them into garden beds in spring.
Top Cold-Hardy Evergreens for Container Gardens
A trio of colorful containers placed by the front door boosts curb appeal from a distance. This arrangement by Adorn in Oklahoma City uses repetition for a high-impact look. The two taller containers feature a potted evergreen at the center, encircled by layers of red berries and pine cones, with mixed evergreen garlands spilling softly over the rim. The smaller pot follows the same formula, anchored by a potted boxwood. If you’re using living plants in your holiday displays, remember to water them throughout the season — and consider transplanting them into garden beds in spring.
Top Cold-Hardy Evergreens for Container Gardens
5. Birch “Candles”
Classic holiday colors of red, green and white come together in this festive arrangement by Smalls Landscaping. Mixed conifer branches, berries and redtwig dogwood create a lush base, while slender birch logs — cut to resemble taper candles — serve as the display’s centerpiece. As a finishing touch, sprigs of variegated foliage and silvery eucalyptus pods look like a sprinkling of frost.
To make your own birch “candles,” cut 1-inch-diameter birch branches into 12-to-18-inch lengths, allowing for enough length to anchor them securely in soil or greenery. Arrange them upright in a container or window box for a similar effect.
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Classic holiday colors of red, green and white come together in this festive arrangement by Smalls Landscaping. Mixed conifer branches, berries and redtwig dogwood create a lush base, while slender birch logs — cut to resemble taper candles — serve as the display’s centerpiece. As a finishing touch, sprigs of variegated foliage and silvery eucalyptus pods look like a sprinkling of frost.
To make your own birch “candles,” cut 1-inch-diameter birch branches into 12-to-18-inch lengths, allowing for enough length to anchor them securely in soil or greenery. Arrange them upright in a container or window box for a similar effect.
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6. Greenery and Garlands
This elegant woodland-inspired winter entryway by Sweet Dirt Designs features two handsome containers filled with large-scale branches for height, anchored in a bed of conifer branches with a scattering of pine cones. A garland frames the porch and is threaded with string lights for a soft evening glow. Overall, this design demonstrates how a limited palette can be used to great effect.
This elegant woodland-inspired winter entryway by Sweet Dirt Designs features two handsome containers filled with large-scale branches for height, anchored in a bed of conifer branches with a scattering of pine cones. A garland frames the porch and is threaded with string lights for a soft evening glow. Overall, this design demonstrates how a limited palette can be used to great effect.
7. Silver and Bronze
Against a backdrop of deep green conifer branches and rich bronze magnolia leaves, the silvery baubles of this container by The Inspired Garden stand out like icy ornaments.
To re-create this look, pick up a few premade metallic accents or spray-paint branches, lotus pods, pine cones or artificial berries in silver or gold, then weave them into dark foliage for contrast.
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Against a backdrop of deep green conifer branches and rich bronze magnolia leaves, the silvery baubles of this container by The Inspired Garden stand out like icy ornaments.
To re-create this look, pick up a few premade metallic accents or spray-paint branches, lotus pods, pine cones or artificial berries in silver or gold, then weave them into dark foliage for contrast.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
8. Magical Glow
With twilight arriving much earlier this time of year, outdoor lighting can transform a potted arrangement from shadowy to magical.
NatureWorks Landscape Services created this display for a Boston-area home by filling planters with a mix of conifers and bunches of magnolia leaves to create a lush base. Warm-tone string lights woven through the foliage and glowing electric candle-style rods turn the arrangement into a twinkling scene after dark.
What to Know About Adding Outdoor Lighting
With twilight arriving much earlier this time of year, outdoor lighting can transform a potted arrangement from shadowy to magical.
NatureWorks Landscape Services created this display for a Boston-area home by filling planters with a mix of conifers and bunches of magnolia leaves to create a lush base. Warm-tone string lights woven through the foliage and glowing electric candle-style rods turn the arrangement into a twinkling scene after dark.
What to Know About Adding Outdoor Lighting
9. Christmas Vignette
A sunny doorstep can be the perfect spot for showing off a living Christmas tree and keeping it fresh in the cool outdoor air. Here, Outdoor Dreams placed a conifer inside a wooden planter and wrapped it, along with a wooden sled, with old-fashioned Christmas lights to create a charming entry scene.
After the holidays, living Christmas trees can remain in their containers, be transplanted to larger ones if needed, or planted in the landscape.
A sunny doorstep can be the perfect spot for showing off a living Christmas tree and keeping it fresh in the cool outdoor air. Here, Outdoor Dreams placed a conifer inside a wooden planter and wrapped it, along with a wooden sled, with old-fashioned Christmas lights to create a charming entry scene.
After the holidays, living Christmas trees can remain in their containers, be transplanted to larger ones if needed, or planted in the landscape.
10. Winter Blossoms
Flowers that bloom when the rest of the garden is quiet in winter can have an uplifting effect in the landscape and in containers. Camellias (Camellia spp.), as seen in this photo uploaded by Le jardinet, can be reliable winter container options in regions with mild climates. Most camellias fall into zones 7 to 9, while some are hardy to Zone 6.
Other winter-flowering container plants to consider in warm areas include winter daphne (Daphne odora, zones 7 to 9), winter skimmia (Skimmia japonica, zones 6 to 9), hellebore (Helleborus spp., zones 4 to 9) and cool-season annuals such as pansy (Viola spp., winter-hardy in zones 7 to 11) and florist’s cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum, zones 9 to 11).
Flowers that bloom when the rest of the garden is quiet in winter can have an uplifting effect in the landscape and in containers. Camellias (Camellia spp.), as seen in this photo uploaded by Le jardinet, can be reliable winter container options in regions with mild climates. Most camellias fall into zones 7 to 9, while some are hardy to Zone 6.
Other winter-flowering container plants to consider in warm areas include winter daphne (Daphne odora, zones 7 to 9), winter skimmia (Skimmia japonica, zones 6 to 9), hellebore (Helleborus spp., zones 4 to 9) and cool-season annuals such as pansy (Viola spp., winter-hardy in zones 7 to 11) and florist’s cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum, zones 9 to 11).
Your turn: How do you like to decorate your entryway for the holidays? Share with us in the Comments.
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These handsome doorstep arrangements by The Inspired Garden in New York combine mixed evergreens with bronze magnolia leaves and festive accents, including red berry sprigs, tinted eucalyptus, dried lotus pods and swirly grasses.
You can create a similar look by filling an empty container with clipped materials from your garden or a florist. For easier arranging, place a loose ball of chicken wire inside the pot to help anchor the branches.
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