While there is little more beautiful than a blanket of clean, white snow–there are times when winter’s barren landscape leaves many home gardeners missing the colorful blooms of spring and summer. For those seeking to break away from commercialized lawn décor, the winter is a perfect time to look to nature for decorating tips. What are few unique, all-natural ways to decorate the yard in winter?
Bird Seed Cookie Cut-Outs. Create seasonal cookies from things that birds love to eat-and use the cookies as colorful decorations. Find a simple bird seed treat recipe, choose a variety of winter themed cookie cutters such as mittens or stockings, and create your bird seed decorations. Be sure to include colorful berries and a variety of seed to create patterns and designs in the bird seed cookies. Tie the bird seed treats onto trees or bushes just as you would indoor holiday ornaments.
Floating Fruit. Turn a cold, winter birdbath into a festive display by adding a colorful array of dried fruit, berries and even colorful stones to the water. The bird bath filled with fruit is pretty and soothing as the pieces float and is even more beautiful once the water freezes the fruit in place. You can either choose to let the fruit freeze where nature places it in the birdbath or create your own designs by tightly packing the fruit into place and adding only a little water.
Edible Garlands. While evergreen trees and bushes are quite lovely beneath a blanket of fresh snow–there are a number of ways to brighten them up in a winter garden. Much like an indoor Christmas tree, outdoor trees can be decorated with homemade garlands made from berries, popcorn or even bird seed treats molded into festive shapes. Not only will the garlands bring color and interest to the garden–but they may bring colorful birds as well. Simply string the food pieces on thread or pieces of twine and wrap around tree branches.
Fruit Ornaments. If the outdoor evergreen trees need a little livening up–colorful, whole fruit ornaments may be just the thing. Choose brightly colored, fresh red apples, oranges, lemons, pears and even limes to use as natural, outdoor yard ornaments. Gently press nails or tacks into the fruit, leaving the heads exposed far enough to tie a length of twine around them, and tie onto tree branches.
Build baskets from nature. Display baskets full of interesting treasures from simple walks in the woods. Begin with a basket woven from willow or from pine needles and layer in a variety of colors and textures from a treasure hunt in the woods. Pine cones, acorns, Sweetgum pods, and colorful winter berries are all great choices for outdoor baskets. For those willing to have a few unnatural items in the outdoor décor, Sweetgum pods are especially unique when sprayed lightly with a little gold paint.