• Home
  • ABOUT
  • VIDEOS
  • Contact
  • SHOP

The Impatient Gardener

Containers, Garden

The winter light display (aka containers at night)

December 12, 2017

My winter containers do so much to brighten things up around here, but with it getting fully dark by about 4:30 p.m. the really brightening happens when the lights come on. I was able to get some photos of what things look like lit up over the weekend. You can see all the containers (in their daytime glory) here.

We’ve switched to all LED lights, which means all these lights barely make a blip on the electricity bill. That’s a lot better than the old days when we ran strings of incandescent C9 bulbs all over the place.

Lighted Christmas container

Lighted Christmas container

Lighted Christmas container

Our first snow of the year also fell (and melted soon after) over the weekend. It certainly makes things look festive.

snowy christmas container

Lighted Christmas container

 

The garage decorations are simple, but I love how it looks lit up. Garage pergola lit up for the holidays

And it’s nice to walk to the house from the garage too.

lighted house

I like warm white lights, but we make one exception. Picea glauca ‘Hudson’, a lovely specimen tree that we planted in honor of our first Newfoundland Hudson, gets a healthy dose of big, colorful lights. We like it to be a little special and we look at it from the kitchen every night.

Colorful Christmas lights

These dark days with long nights can be a challenge (although we are only days away from shorter days!) but it’s nice to come home to this light display.

containers holiday newfoundlands
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
9 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

View all posts by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

Related Posts

  • A pair of books to ring in spring
  • green planters with green foliageBig planter roundup
  • snow planterSkip this holiday gift guide
  • winter window box lit for the holidaysHow to create a winter window box
previous post: Container designs for the holidays and beyond
next post: Last minute shopping for gardeners

Comments

  1. Ellie's friend from Canada says: December 13, 2017 at 12:35 am

    The lights look lovely! Ann

    Reply
  2. Lisa at Greenbow says: December 13, 2017 at 6:08 am

    I can hardly do without winter lights. They warm the heart and lift the spirits.

    Reply
  3. Nanette Brawer says: December 13, 2017 at 6:29 am

    It looks beautiful! Simple, yet elegant. Happy Holidays to you and your family.

    Reply
  4. Belinda says: December 13, 2017 at 7:07 am

    Beautiful!

    Reply
  5. timmyd says: December 13, 2017 at 7:49 am

    You should have a goat all lit up! Yah.

    Reply
  6. Amy says: December 13, 2017 at 11:15 am

    Would you mind linking to some of the LED lights that you use? A link to something similar to your window box hoop would also be appreciated! Love your blog; thanks for the continued wonderful ideas! xx

    Reply
  7. Carol says: December 13, 2017 at 5:38 pm

    We finished our lighting a few weeks ago. Like you, we stay with warm white “starry night” lighting for all the pots and window boxes but have one spruce in the yard that is full on multi-colored lights. Our granddaughters consider it their special tree. There aren’t many projects that provide so much return on investment. The lights in the dark of night are lovely.

    Reply
  8. Linda from Each Little World says: December 13, 2017 at 10:26 pm

    I love that these all look so great in the daylight and the lights are just an added bonus. Your window hoop is as good as Deborah Silver. Or did I already say that?!

    Reply
  9. Tiny derenette says: December 5, 2022 at 10:08 pm

    SUPPER MOOI
    PROFICIAT
    LOVE IT…

    Reply

Leave Your Comments Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About

The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

Here's some more about me.

CONNECT

Awards

Garden Comm award

MY FAVORITE GEAR

https://www.amazon.com/shop/impatientgardener

Instagram

impatientgardener

Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Pen These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Penhill Watermelon (first picture) and Penhill Dark Monarch are the best two HUGE dahlias that I grow. They share slightly twisty petals (Watermelon more so) and, when you look closely, subtle striations that add a beautiful depth of color. Watermelon grows taller than Dark Monarch (7 feet tall or more sometimes) and they both need serious staking, but it’s worth it because they produce a lot of flowers for a large-flowering dahlia. 

I like them both but if I was forced to choose (and who would make me do that?) I’d give the edge to Dark Monarch because it’s a little easier to manage size-wise, produces more flowers and has a bigger variation in flower color so it’s always interesting. 

Which do you like better?
I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But w I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But when there’s only one tool that does that one thing really well, I’m here for it. This pottery/container knife from Sneeboer makes it possible to actually get plants out of pots without breaking or damaging the pot. It’s also really expensive. 😀
A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zi A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zinnias, pycnanthemum muticum and bronze fennel shown here.
My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love tryi My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love trying out new varieties and I feel like they just work so well in my garden from both a design standpoint and a cultural standpoint (they are happy here). Because I grow so many, the ones that self sow can be surprises. 

All of these self-sown Nicotiana are probably at least partly the children of the F1 hybrid Perfume series, which grow to be about 24” tall or so. Last year I grew purple, pink, white and lime versions and these are likely new variations on those. 

Picture 3 is, in my opinion, a good example of how these self sown second-year hybrids can go wrong. I’ll probably rip that one out. 😀

And the last photo is of my favorite colorway, lime, popping up amongst the Zinnias. I find these self-sown Nicotiana popping up all summer, so there’s always a fresh-blooming supply. 

Are you as enamored with Nicotinana as I am?
Load More Follow on Instagram

SEARCH

Popular posts

  • HOW TO MAKE A HOLIDAY WINDOW BOX
  • How to find and deal with tomato hornworms
  • A summer of bouquets
  • Plant to know: Geranium macrorrhizum

Find us on Facebook

Archives

  • ABOUT
  • TALK TO ME
  • TERMS & DISCLAIMERS
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Home

Copyright © 2023 · Prima Donna theme by Georgia Lou Studios

Copyright 2009-2021 ©The Impatient Gardener