Joe wraps pine garland around the post of the Martin house, it is made from our local White Pine, Pinus strobus, a common New England native pine.
Every year I seem to have elaborate plants on how I want to decorate the house and garden, but with a busy job ( working at Hasbro as a principal designer, it’s a bit like being one of Santa’s elves, even though we design 2 years in advance!) ( …and, yes, as a little girl at Whole Foods announced to everyone today, Joe in this shot indeed, looked like one of Santa’s elves! A 6 foot 3 elf.) – anyway, I digress……our busy lives leave little time for decorating anything, it seems, but this year, I feel rather Christmasy, so perhaps I will find more time. This weekend, we start with the greenhouse side of the house, the boxwood garden, Martin house and front hedges.
Fergus watches Joe complete his task, while Margaret stays by the Greenhouse door ready to help plug in the extension cord. This year’s motif on this side of the house, is red and white lights.
Of course, this is what makes if worth while. Hot chocolate. It did snow a little last night, but only a dusting. A foot of snow at this point would have made the scene perfect.
Lydia and Fergus beg for cookies.
As evening falls, the light are illuminated. We lined the edges of the greenhouse, which we do every few years, with white lights which will remain on the structure for a year or so. We like to turn them on during snowstorms, parties, and in the spring when we host garden parties and plant society tours. It adds a little something when visitors go out to the greenhouse, even when the daffodils are in bloom on spring evenings.
Even without a foot of snow, the greenhouse looks nicer. We like to add spot lights under the shrubs and trees, which we also keep lit at night in the summer, a touch that few people seem to do, but take a lesson from restaurants and public gardens – a few well positioned spot lights on tree trunks and trees with nice branches if often all one needs for Holiday lighting, and during the rest of the year, its a nice surprise for guests. You don’t have to live at a beach resort to have permission to light your garden specimens at night!
Looks lovely! I loved decorating outdoors in winter. White lights around birches are a favorite combo.
The decorations look good, especially the greenhouse. If your weather is pouring rain like here, I bet you are happy you got this done.
That does look great, v jealous. Someday I will have a winter hardy greenhouse.
But where is Decorating outdoors Part 2?