Bring some of the Christmas cheer from inside your home into your outdoor spaces! Creating a porch pot is easy, fun, and instantly adds holiday charm to your porch, patio, or deck. All you need is a container, evergreens, and some decorative pieces to create a beautiful winter arrangement. Here’s how to brighten up your porch for the winter and holiday seasons!
Choose a Theme
The first thing you’ll need to do is figure out how you want your porch pot to look and how long you intend to keep it out on your porch. If you want to display your porch pot all winter long, you may want to consider a winter wonderland theme or be prepared to swap out some of the decorative pieces after the Christmas season is over.
Gather Supplies
After you’ve decided how you want the porch pot to look, the next step is to find everything you need to bring your vision to life. You’ll need a container, container filler to weigh it down and keep picks in place, several evergreen branches, and decorative pieces.
There are many things you can use as containers for your porch pot. Trim the plants in your summer planter pots and stick in the evergreen branches, or use a galvanized bucket, wood barrel, or a wooden crate as the base for your porch pot. You can even use more unique options like holiday tins, milk cans, or metal mail holders.
You will also need something in the bottom of the container to keep it from blowing over on windy days and to keep the branches in place. Decide whether you want to fill it with soil, sand, rocks, or a piece of floral foam to make arranging each branch simple.
The most important part of a porch pot is the greenery, so be sure to find as many kinds of pine as you can! Adding different species is an easy way to add texture and visual interest. To create a dimensional look that adds life to your front porch, incorporate thrillers, fillers, and spillers into your porch pot. Use branches of birch wood, redtwig dogwood, curly willow, or anything that is taller than your container as thrillers. Fillers are branches of pine and evergreens, berry picks, bundles of eucalyptus, and decorative holiday accents. Use plants that hang and flow nicely as spillers. Boxwood, cypress, and white pine are some examples of plants that make perfect spillers.
Finally, the last thing you’ll need for your porch pot is some decorative pieces to tie the whole thing together and add color. This can be an opportunity to bring some of your indoor decor outside (if your porch is covered) to give your guests a small preview of what they’ll find once they enter your home. You can also use decor like staked figures, faux flowers and picks, glittery bows and ribbons, and even ornaments to decorate your porch pot. You can attach these things to wooden dowels or skewers to stick into the pot, or use pipe cleaners or string to secure ornaments and other decor to the tops of branches. You can even use string lights to add a twinkle to the pot!
Fill the Pot
Once you have your container, greenery, and decorative pieces picked out, it’s time to prepare the container to be filled. Fill your container of choice with soil, sand, rocks, or floral foam to keep each pick in place. After your anchor base is placed, begin arranging each piece in the pot carefully. Place your thrillers, fillers, and spillers thoughtfully and treat the porch pot like a floral arrangement. Take your time adding all the branches, evergreens, and holiday accents. Don’t be afraid to rearrange and fluff as you go!
Put it in Place
When you’re happy with how everything looks, place the container on your porch, deck, patio, or wherever you’d like outside, take a step back, and admire your work. Now it’s time for the finishing touches! Decorate the area around your porch pot with lanterns, holiday figurines, lights, and welcoming signs for a beautiful outdoor display your guests are sure to love. Hang a wreath on your front door and drape garland across the railing to complete your porch this holiday season.
