Beginner's DIY - Holiday Porch Planters

Hey there, my name is Marina, and I'm a newbie. I'm a newbie at a lot of things, adulting, filing taxes, and more relevant to you; all things gardening. I'm excited to dive into the world of grow-your-own and home beautification, and for me, Vita is the perfect place to start. Today I'm going to tackle my front door...it's seriously sad and needs some pep for the holiday season. I've just moved into this home, and I want to keep up with my neighborhood's enthusiasm for decorating. I've decided to grab two Mezza Cube Planters... these babies are small but have a style big impact. Let’s create some holiday porch planters!  

I love that the Mezza Series has such a warm wood tone, it compliments my historic home perfectly and easily creates that cozy cottage vibe I'm going for. I also love the texture of this wood and how it goes great with dark greens and reds. The wood boards also smell AH-MAZ-ING, like fresh citrusy cedar.  

 

For this project I went out and bought 3lbs of princess pine and 3lbs of silver fir from my local grocery store, but you can get fresh cut greens from a lot of places (they have especially great selections at greenhouses/nurseries). I also went out and got some "focal pieces" (faux berries, pinecones, gold twigs, etc.) to add texture, color, and interest to my planters. I found mine at HomeSense/HomeGoods for a great deal and surprisingly enough from the dollar store! I chose artificial pieces for my focal pieces as I want to keep reusing them year after year. I ended up utilizing some leftover pots of soil from my fall mums for the anchors in planters. Arranging your greens and decorative pieces in soil is not only a great way to hold them down but it will continually provide moisture to your greens until the soil freezes. And yes, your greens do need moisture if you want them to last a long time. Keep the soil like the texture of a wet sponge for best results.  

Assembling the planters was easy, fun, and super-fast. It took me less than 15 minutes to assemble each one. The smart design calls for minimal tools and is simple to do by yourself. Building these on my back porch, cozied up in a vest with the sun shining down on my face was pretty relaxing... I almost wish it didn’t go by so fast!  

Once my planters were assembled, I popped the soil pots inside and began first arranging my focal pieces in the middle, this set up the maximum height and gave me some direction for how the greens needed to go in. I then clipped off bits of the greens, ensuring I had nice clean ends to stick into the soil. Arranging the greens can be finicky, but just take you time and use all your clipping to fill in any holes you see.  

And voilà! Beautiful, simple, and festive porch planters. I'm so impressed with the sleek and modern vibe the Mezza Cubes provided.

I love that these planters are basically like a beautiful canvas. I can create so many looks with them by subbing out plants over the seasons. I can't wait to style them for the Spring!

Happy Holidays!  

 

Marina