It always depresses me when I have to take the flowers out of my beautiful pots around the front door. I like to leave them in as long as possible but Mother Nature usually makes the decision for me on when to take them out. It seems we always have an early frost (or earlier than I would like!) and it zaps them. Bam. Beautiful one day, dead and rotting the next. It makes me so sad. 

In an effort to spruce up my entryway after the flowers have died, I went on a search for holiday greens. I looked at the local nurseries and the big box stores. Holy cow! Their greens are expensive (and not very impressive)! And for the number of pots I have, that just wasn’t an option. 

Project Real Mom: Add a touch of greenery to your entryway.

We have what’s called a “soft waste yard” in my town. Many towns have them. Anyone from town can drop off their tree trimmings, grass clippings and leaves for free. The city then composts it all and dumps it in a pile that’s free for the taking. It’s great for when I plant my garden in the Spring. I drive by ours almost every day. Well, one day as I was driving by and I noticed a huge pile of evergreen branches. LIGHT BULB! 

I stopped at home, grabbed my clippers and back to the soft waste yard I went. I found all different kinds of greens, dogwood branches (which are the red ones) and some type of branch that had little red berries all over it. JACKPOT! I loaded up my car and off I went. I did get a few strange looks from people that must have been thinking, “What in the world is she doing hauling branches back OUT of the soft waste yard??” Oh well, I didn’t care. I’ve noticed in subsequent years that others have caught onto this idea of “borrowing” the greens until Spring. When Spring arrives, I load them all back up and take ’em back down to the soft waste yard for composting. 

Project Real Mom: Spruce up your entry way with holiday greens!

Mix and match your greens for AWESOME pots. The variety of colors and textures give your pots such a festive look! Pop in some dogwood for a spray of color. If you can’t find dogwood, you can spray paint branches red or gold or white, whatever color you like! Just shove the branches down into the soil in the pot. For an extra hold, pour water into the pots (when it’s below freezing). This will create an ice block that will hold your greens in place and keep them steady during the arctic winds of winter. Aren’t they gorgeous?!? And it was FREE! Tip: You can also do smaller pots and use them as a hostess gift! Who wouldn’t love to get one of these?!

Project Real Mom: Festive holiday greens dress up your front door.

Happy decorating on the cheap!