Tag Archives: Cathy Testa

Growing Tomatoes: My 5-Year Passion

Leave a comment

About the year of 2020 or maybe it was the year before, I started getting into sowing tomato seeds. That carried on for about 5 years. It became a passion and I always grew the plants in my large patio pots, rather than a garden. Here in this photo above are some of my plants in large pots. The chicken wire was there to keep wild animals (like squirrels or chipmunks) away.

I got into sowing the seeds so much that eventually I was growing up to 400 plants in my greenhouse. My greenhouse is a lean-to style of about 12 feet wide by 24 feet long. Supplemental heat was needed. I used seedling heat mats and the propane heating unit. Eventually, spring would arrive. The sun was enough to heat the greenhouse as the warmer season approaches in late March or so. It kept the baby tomato plants growing happily. I visited them every single day – no lie. I think plants know when you pay attention to them.

I have very many photos of the tomatoes from my efforts. I sold lots of plants too. My favorite seed company was Hudson Valley Seed Co. I discovered them at the CT Flower Show one year. I loved their artful seed packets, the instructions inside the packets, and their website is very informative. I also loved that they offered lots of unique varieties. Above is the “Bumble bee mix” cherry tomatoes. Why not experiment and have lots of varieties to eat and talk about?

I stopped sowing the seeds a couple years back. I think of how many I did before. It became a big passion for a few years, probably 5 or so years. I am proud of what I had accomplished. As mentioned, I have lots of tomato photos, but I need to delete them now. I’m posting just a few here today. You can use the search bar to see my prior blog posts on many tomato types. Just type tomato. They should show up on this blog site. In this photo above, I’m holding an “Oxheart” tomato. Those were like the biggest EVER. Shaped like a heart. It was always amazing to see how big they got and they were heavy too.

Theses above are the Honey Drop cherry tomatoes. Good Lord. So sweet and delicious. Really tops! I think cherry tomatoes are easier to grow than regular tomatoes. They don’t seem to get affected as much by things like blossom end rot. They grow prolifically so you have a real lot to pop in your mouth during the harvest season in summer. They almost grow like weeds!

This tomato plant flower is from an Oxheart. Even the flowers were huge. You need flowers to produce fruit. The flowers were admired as much as the tomato fruits. They started growing as soon as the flowers were ready. More flowers, more tomatoes.

This is one of those “mouthwatering” photos. It makes anyone who loves fresh, garden tomatoes wish they could have one right now in the middle of winter. There’s nothing better than fresh. And when picked and eaten right away (if warmed by the sun), even better. I find it hard to find good tomatoes otherwise, like in stores. Growing your own is one of the best ways to get the best flavor.

This is another photo of an Oxheart tomato. Isn’t amazing how nature produces fruit in the shapes of human organs?! When you slice this open, it looks like a heart inside too. They were heavy, full, and just so amazing to eat. They had a more of a mild flavor but very yummy.

This is a starter plant in a bag ready for pickup. I sold them to lots of friends. And family members. Word got around. LOL. I’m proud of how happy these plants looked. It didn’t happen “just because I had a greenhouse”. It was an effort of proper soil. Proper potting up was necessary. I took care with proper hardening off and watched for any insects. If you don’t know what those terms are, just search them on my blog in the red search box. I’m sure I wrote about hardening off and things like seedlings, and more. In Feb or March, I would start to think about what to do for the upcoming sowing season. It was a time to consider preparations. I started planning things out that early. There were little tasks too, like properly washing seedling trays and pots, etc.

Another “mouthwatering” photo here or large golden tomatoes and some red ones. This is heaven on a plate in summer. We would live off these! Sometimes my husband would eat them all before I could take a bite! He was cute though and learned when the very first large tomato was ready, to share.

This photo is of plants on a table on my deck outside. I elevated them to keep the chipmunks or squirrels away as best as possible. My deck would become a tomato jungle in the summer when I was super into growing them in pots. It was fun to sit in a cozy deck chair with a bunch of tomato plants behind me. The animals really didn’t bother the plants until they started to see some coloring of the fruit. At one point, I would pick them a little earlier. Then, the tomato continues ripening on my kitchen counter.

Another big-time favorite was the Fox Cherry tomatoes! If you have never grown these – please do. OMG. So good for flavor and lots and lots of fruit. All of these above were from the Hudson Valley Seed Co seeds.

I think these were the Cherokee Brave tomatoes. Yummy! That is about all I can say. I liked the various colors of each type. Why not try different flavors and savor them. It is like tasting various wines.

Here’s a Goldie. Mild flavor but it is so nice to have a mix of colors when preparing a dish of tomatoes too. These always seemed to come out so perfect. Nice skins.

Well, that is it for now for a tomato recall adventure. Now I can go to my photo database. I can delete the hundreds of other photos I had taken those years back. Believe it or not, it is difficult for me to remove the photos. But, they are taking up space. It is time. I also have lots of other posts about my tomato growing process on this blog site from before.

Cathy Testa

Date of this post: 1/31/2026

Colorful Balcony Plants for Extreme Weather

Leave a comment

These are photos of vivid reds and yellow blooms in large patio pots showcased on a high-rise balcony. As you can see, the yellows and reds of the flowers on these plants stand out. They are also very drought tolerant. And full sun lovers.

I planted this combination on a high-rise balcony many years ago. The conditions up there were brutal in the summers at times. It was very sunny and hot for the first half of the day. The second part of the day was shaded due to the height of the building’s walls and the sun’s movement. But it also was extremely windy at times, and as hot as a very hot beach summer day. Notice in the next photo how much the blooms opened up.

The pots shown here were quite large. Plenty of quality potting soil was used. Some soil moist was added to help manage moisture levels. I also added slow-release fertilizer into the soil. But it was key to find plants which would survive the high-rise conditions. They must get water too. It was imperative to find plants with strong abilities to survive in the sun, wind, and heat. These plants did this well. These also did not need lots of clean up. The faded flowers of the Coreopsis are easy clipped off (deadheaded) if needed. All the other plants held onto the flowers in this combination.

As the summer progressed, the plants became full and offered super bright colors seen from afar. This was good. The view from the balcony owners’ large living room allowed them to see the reds and yellows. I also focus on different textures too. You can see the fine texture of the yellow Sedum. The larger oval leaves of the red edged Jade plant are also visible. Yes, a Jade (as in a houseplant). I never overlooked using houseplant candidates as well as perennials and tropical plants. Just like in a garden, textures add the drama and flow needed to please the admiring eye. I often held up plants next to each other. I did this to look them over and see if they seemed to work together. I was just like that with my eyes. I would figure out if they played well together visually. I also needed to know the plants’ overall habits and culture needs.

This is a Jade. It was a rather large plant. I loved the red edges. The red color only intensified in the patio pots with the full sun conditions. There was lots of warmth and heat on sunny days. These were able to withstand drought like conditions. I always emphasized that the owners should water every day. Plants need water. The soils dry out rather quickly up there on the top of a building in the city. And the owners were fantastic. They did water the plants as often as possible. They got an A+ on that as it wasn’t always easy, there were no faucets or hoses outside. All water was carried from the inside to the outside in buckets! When it rained, that was a bonus.

The yellow plant in the front is a Sedum. It is called, Lemon Ball Stonecrop Sedum. A perennial. Talk about an intensely bright yellow! Really pops. It was perfect for the front of the patio pot, tucked in nicely. That plant in this combination was a little more delicate. But, its vivid yellow was unbeatable.

And a must on everyone’s list is flowers which bloom most of the summer. I added these Coreopsis because of their beautiful yellow coloring with red centers. They also handled the drought conditions quite well. This one is called, ‘Baby Seed’ Tickseed Coreopsis. These are butterfly magnets and work well in rock gardens too. It was always a treat to see a bee or two. I enjoyed seeing a bee come by up there when I put flowers into the customer’s containers. Way up there. I think it was 26 floors high, or was it 28? I can’t remember, but it was up high. If you couldn’t handle heights, you would not be capable of work up there on their open balcony. It didn’t bother me to look over the railing to the city streets below. It was a unique planting experience and a great learning one too due to the high-rise location.

And there are of course the Mandevillas or Dipladenias. Big pretty blooms. Red on these and a vine-like habit. This one did not vine as much as others, but it was a staple for my balcony garden working days. They tolerate the winds, hold onto the flowers despite winds strong enough to move heavy furniture on the balcony. Furniture which had to be chained down appropriately always. Tropical plants they are.

Experiencing working on a high-rise balcony was one of my ultimate pleasures of having my former small plant related business. I only felt disappointed that they (the penthouse owner’s) did not discover me sooner. I wish I had worked up there when I was younger. I would have been able to handle more of the physical aspects. I was a solo worker. It was sometimes a challenge to figure out how to get all the soil bags, plants, and more up there. Because I am organized, I found ways to maximize my trips up the service elevator. I used wagons and a hand truck. I used the appropriate boxes and bins. I did it and I loved every minute of being up there. Well, maybe on those super-hot days, not so much. But I loved the plants and expansive balcony views enough to keep on working up there. It was an honor.

Cathy Testa
Date if this post: 1/29/2026

In this patio Pot:


Rediscovering My Greenhouse: A Summer Cleaning Journey

Leave a comment

I was not in my greenhouse this spring sowing seeds or preparing other plant related things, because my husband and I retired. I tried to convince myself I could go without sowing seeds, growing things, nurturing seedlings, and propagating succulents, or whatever, I would do in my greenhouse in the spring. I decided I want to travel, so really, I won’t be here to water, coddle, care for my plant babies during the summer months. Plus, there is a cost associated with growing plants from seed such as seedling mix to nursery pots, etc. And I thought I should avoid that expense now that we are retired.

However, as the middle of summer hit, I thought this would be a good time to clean the greenhouse. What in 100-degree weather? During CT’s heat wave, you ask! Well, in the early mornings, it is a great time to hose all the dust off everything I left in the greenhouse, and it all dries very well as the heat rises to the point I can’t be in there.

This whole thing “cleaning the dust off” in the greenhouse got me daydreaming about my days in the greenhouse from years prior. Even when I close the slider door, there is a bang slam type of noise as the side of the door hits the frame, and that simple noise is something I heard repeatedly when I was in my greenhouse full time in the spring seasons. It gave me flashbacks. So did hearing the birds outside the greenhouse, seeing the trees sway outside the greenhouse, and just the simple things you experience in there when working in the quiet or sometimes with a speaker playing favorite tunes. Those moments when you are using your hands, hands in the soil, just being with the whole environment. My greenhouse was that place for me for lots of time in the spring, fall, and even winter. Usually mid-summer though, it would be just way too hot be working or playing in there.

But, I did think, well, it will be hot, I can grab the water hose, blast all, reorganize lots of stuff I had piled up here and there, and even hose down windows and doors. I started to take everything out of my antique school style lockers from spray bottles to tools, to cups, to plant labels, to bug sticky yellow traps, to scissors, magnifying glass, and anything else and hosed all the lockers down to remove dust and crime. It felt good, but it also brought lots of reminders of the projects I did in the greenhouse. For example, once, I tried stamping old spoons for a while and have a whole set of the stamp tools in the school lockers along with all my other plant related tools. It just brought back memories and made me realize the greenhouse was my true Zen woman cave. I spent lots of hours in there when sowing tomato plant seeds and it kept me busy. Then in the winters, I’d care for overwintered plants.

Anyhow, I realized I don’t think I can do without using my greenhouse. It is part of my soul. I thought about what ifs. What if I turned it into a pottery studio? But nah, I don’t want to invest in all that. What if we turned it into a place to sit and chill. Well, there is no chill in a greenhouse in the summer, way too hot. What if we covered the clear roof and made it another hang out room? Well, we don’t really need a hang out room in the summer in that heat. What if I just stored a bunch of stuff in there but then it just hit me, I truly miss it. I miss being in there working with plants. It was my thing, and it gave me a special vibe. So, I just may rethink that whole don’t use the greenhouse anymore ridiculous idea.

In the meantime, I’ll keep cleaning and sorting and removing things that I have too much of. And get it well organized so that next spring, I can sow seeds, I think. I told my husband the same, he agreed, it is my thing, and he will repair a problem in the roof for me this fall cause now he is home and can do so.

In the meantime, I just try to enjoy what I do have. I cut back on the plants in my patio pots, and went with just a few. To see empty pots or planters around my home is something I just try not to think about – and look away. LOL. I used to LOVE filling every corner of my deck with plants, but I cut back a lot. Meaning I didn’t grow as many and really tried to reduce this hobby expense.

Anyhow, the other day, changing the pace here a bit, I was sitting on a little couch near my kitchen, and I saw a big butterfly flutter by – and I thought, Oh My Gosh, is he going to my planter on the deck?! And he was – visiting the pentas annual pink flower heads and I was able to take photos of a beautiful large swallowtail butterfly. That made my day between the whole greenhouse cleaning reminiscing phase! Maybe it was a little sign. Keep going he said, don’t give up your plant greenhouse passion!

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy Testa
Container Crazy CT blog
CT location

Crafting for Therapy: My Pinecone Wreath Journey

6 Comments

Hi all,

It’s December 2024 – Wow! Only about 4 weeks till Christmas. Usually, in past years, I was one busy, hyper, nervous woman preparing fresh holiday greens for an upcoming huge holiday workshop during this week, but I stopped doing that during Covid year. And now I’m in a new stage of my life, being retired. I still plan to post on this plant related blog from time to time, but this year, I didn’t post that much. I was in a funk. Family drama entered during the first year of my retirement and my husband’s – such is life, sometimes timing can mess up the best laid plans. I am hoping 2025 will bring better days, but in the meantime, I do find that creating crafts is a form of therapy. So, on my sad days recently, I thought to myself, “Make something – anything. Even if it doesn’t come out good.”

When I worked on my fresh greens for those prior big holiday workshops consisting of teaching how to make wreaths, kissing balls, and other beautiful holiday items, it was my holiday too, but I was always nervous too. Will I run out of fresh holiday greens? Do I have enough for all the attendees? Will the greens last? Sometimes, I over purchased greens or holiday craft supplies like ribbons, berries, pinecones, or whatever used to embellish the wreaths and kissing balls made in workshops or for my special orders just cause of the fear of running out. So, after 20 years or so of doing my holiday workshops, I did end up with some extra “supplies” in my stock room. Thus, I could craft now by myself for another 10 years probably – LOL.

I saw one day a candy cane wreath made of pinecones on a social media feed, and I thought, hey, I have plenty of pinecones still in my stock. And I have 3 frames left in my stock shaped like candy canes. Pinecones are something I would just gather in the woods mostly. Sometimes I purchased them from a wholesale supply house if they were special, like those with silvery sparkles, or an extra touch with berries or whatever.

Thus, I made this candy cane pinecone wreath using a wire frame recently (see photo below). It was easy in ways but tricky with the hands. I just pushed some pinecones I had (faux and real) that were already batched in 3. Three pinecones wired together previously. I used two types and fenagled them thru the wire frame and then just used standard florist wire to secure. The backside of this candy cane wreath is sloppy – but I didn’t really care, cause first of all, you can’t see the back, but I also didn’t care, because I was doing “craft therapy.”

I have some of that moss in stock too – it is a dry type, and I grabbed bits of it and tucked it around. I also have some of those larger red balls and I love those and added some here and there, then added a premade curly bow. I used some glue gun glue to secure some items, but that was it.

Once I was done, I posted photos and people were kind and said they liked it! But it is not perfect. And that is okay. Gathering together with friends, making something crafty, isn’t always about being obsessed with decorating your home for the holidays. It is sometimes used to heal the soul, to heal what may be off for your holiday season. I know that sometimes, in my workshops, I would sense someone that may not have been totally festive – something was off, maybe they were sad, maybe they were lonely but when we all got together to craft together, it tends to make you focus on something else and it is art therapy! It allows your mind to be distracted, to focus on something other than disturbing or upsetting thoughts. It can help you. It is art therapy, and I hope you get some of your own therapy time in too if you need some!

P.S. Someone asked me if I put the white touches (frosted look) on the pinecones myself, which I did not, but you can do that – just grab a sponge, put some white paint on it, and roll the pinecone across it and let it dry.

Love, Cathy T
ContainerCrazyCT.com
Located in East Windsor, CT
Currently retired

Date of Today’s Post: 12/3/24, Tuesday

Saying Goodbye to A Blog

2 Comments

Today I did it – I clicked the button to not renew my subscription to another blog I maintained, called Workshopsct.com. It will officially expire on 2-29-24. This site was used to announce my workshops a few years ago, and most recently, my service offerings from things like my creative Succulent Topped Pumpkins to Summer Watering Services. I have officially closed my small plant related business, but I am always here to offer tips on container gardening, plants, and hobbies. Thus, for now, this site, called Container Crazy CT, is staying.

I think one of the hardest things to let go of is all my amazing photos of plants, many of which were showcased on WorkshopsCT.com. I’m addicted to plant photos – probably because I’m a visual person type of person. I love reviewing my photos and thinking about the story behind each container garden creation, or a nature situation like spotting of a butterfly or other cool insects and also looking back on photos of many types of plants, flowers, herbs, succulents, cacti, tropicals, tomatoes, and even weeds at times! LOL.

Anyhow, saying goodbye to a blog is not easy for me so I’m doing it in steps. First to go is Workshopsct.com, and next will probably be my 3rd blog about container gardening services, called Container Gardens CT. But, again, this blog, for the time being is staying. I’ve been writing on it for over 10-15 years, I’ve lost count! Below is a photo of the screen shot of workshopsct.com, just for the heck of it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Cathy T of Container Crazy CT
Today’s date: 1/14/2024

A New Year

2 Comments

A New Year is coming up in just a few days, and what is in store for 2024? It is hard to tell. Things are changing for me. My husband has retired. It feels surreal! It is amazing, and it is an adjustment. New days are coming.

We now feel we will have time to do some gardening together for a change. While he has always been the most enthusiastic helper to my plant endeavors over the years, even learning some of the plant’s Latin names, we could not actually physically build a garden together at our home because he was always so busy with work.

I always fill our long deck along the back of our ranch style home with container gardens filled with plants of all kinds and some vegetables over the years. Tomato plants and hot pepper plants are two of our fav’s. But we have done others like Edamame and pumpkins, just to name two! And of course, many big planters filled with wonderful tropical plants like Ensete, Colocasias, and Canna Lilies.

Steve, my husband, always helped me with the heaving lifting of bringing up pots with a hand-truck to our deck, but sometimes, I was on my own and that is probably how I strained some muscles here and there. We are both getting older and need to be careful with that.

We always dreamed of having a large, raised bed type of garden system in our backyard. One where there are several raised beds in a pattern to walk through, with a fence and arbor entrance. However, one of our big dilemmas is the wild animals! There are plenty in our yard from groundhogs to squirrels. In fact, I usually allow the groundhogs to keep their home under a shed and have babies which are cute to watch scurry across the backyard when they see or hear us at the house or on the deck, but now, how will we ever keep them away if we build our dream vegetable garden in our backyard?

Wild animals have become one of the biggest challenges to gardeners. Some people will put gardens in the front yard or lawns, closer to the street, and that may help keep pests away. However, our front yard is a big hill so that wouldn’t work. Plus, there is no water access up on our front hill.

Sometimes I think we will take down our pool now. It is more costly to maintain. The bucket of chlorine tabs of supplies went up so much in price that we don’t think it will be worth it. The pool filter always breaks, and we are not home in the summers all the time, so we can’t watch the filter basket – stuff like that. Could that area be our new garden space if we did remove our pool? Not sure. Even if it was, it would have to be foolproof to protect from the pests.

That is just one of our goals. I always also grew tomato plants from seed, and it is a wonderful experience. I don’t see the hubby tending to those, but maybe we could grow the plants in our greenhouse till fruit time, but a greenhouse can get very very hot in the summer, maybe too hot to set fruit. Fans and screens need to be maintained, and I suspect insects would be a bigger problem in the greenhouse rather than outdoors where there are more natural insect predators to help. So, I’m not sure on that idea. Maybe I will test it out this year for the first time though. Maybe with smaller tomato plants, like some cherry tomatoes because inside the greenhouse, groundhogs and squirrels can’t enter.

One friend suggested just using the community garden space in our town for a garden, but I would really like to tend to a garden at my home and be able to enjoy it daily. Our backyard is totally surrounded by woods and the river runs down in the back which brings along many types of wild animals. Deer is another. And we all know here in CT how deer love to eat plants. It is like I need a fortress.

We also have lots of home improvement ideas brewing in our minds but which to do first will be the big question. I’m sure we will make a list and decide from there.

Also, I’m kind of semi-retiring myself. I am no longer offering my container garden services and have closed down my business officially via paperwork, but I will always still dabble in plant fun. The other big question is, do I keep my plant blog going?

Can you believe, I’ve written on this blog, Container Crazy CT, for over 15 years? I do have quite a few visitors per my stats, and I added ads this year only because I need helping with maintaining it. For many years, I never put ads on here. I just freely wrote articles to share.

I wonder how much I would miss my blog if I stopped it all together? I have even looked up things on my own blog before to remind me on what I did for this or that. I don’t get many “likes” on this blog on the actual posts – I think it is because people need to log in to do so, and today, clicking likes and heart is so easy for every other platform from Instagram to Facebook, so I think my blog is a bit old fashioned in comparison. It is not so easy to just click like.

When spring arrives, I will have to decide what my new adventures may be. I have often dreamed of getting a pottery wheel and doing pottery in my greenhouse as a new gig. But the expense of a kiln may be too much. Someone told me the other day you can bring pottery to be fired elsewhere – I’ll have to research that. That was always one of my dreams to make my own pottery items.

But the ultimate dream would be to just move to Hawaii. Yup, that kidding husband of mine jokes – Let’s do it – knowing full well he probably would NEVER agree to that! And yes, Hawaii is way too expensive! But dreaming is a good thing – we all should dream – one never knows.

Welp, if you feel like commenting on your thoughts – let me know. Just a week ago, my cousin’s son told me he was researching plant stuff and came across one of my articles from this plant blog. I thought, oh gosh, I hope it was a good article because he is super smart and a talented professional horticulturist himself. What was he looking up? How do deal with squirrels in the garden! Go Figure.

Happy New Year’s to You all. I hope you have some new goals in mind for 2024 too – even if they are unclear like mine.

Cheers!

Cathy Testa
Container Crazy CT
Broad Brook, CT

Pommy Balls for the Holidays

2 Comments

Back in 2016 – yes, that far back, I made what I affectionately referred to as, Holiday Pommy Balls!

What are they? Real pomegranates topped with live succulent plants and some holiday bling.

At that time, I didn’t want any photos of them to be shown on social media. I thought they were the most adorable creations for holiday decor. I knew it was a unique idea that popped up in my mind.

It just came to me one afternoon, and I thought, “Hmm, could these pomegranates be used like succulent topped pumpkins I made in the fall to create a holiday item?”

Spontaneous thoughts are how these things happen. It just comes to me. And, because I had this feeling at that time that any unique item I was creating was being copied, I asked people who got them from me not to share photos of them.

Seems silly, doesn’t it?! I was at a point; I actually didn’t want to share it on Instagram or other places.

Anyhow,

Pomegranate fruits were introduced to me by my husband when we were dating and living in my small apartment next door to my parents. I remember him cutting one open and enjoying the fresh goodness inside – the red juicy seeds. Every holiday, we enjoy some of these as a tradition. They are in season September to November and can be found in the grocery stores in December and January.

Back then though when we lived in an apartment, we put some of the seeds in a bowl to show my dad. He had never tried pomegranates either! He said, “This is a trick?” We laughed and replied, “No, these are good and good for you!”

Flash forward to 2016, and just one day I had some pommies at home to eat soon, and that thought came into my mind. I grabbed my glue gun, some of my smaller succulents, made a tiny holiday ribbon bow, and added glitter balls. Voila! They came out so darn cute. And were really fun and easy to create!

They are natural and I love that. Also, pomegranates will dry out naturally over time, and usually with no rot. So, the plants sat on top for a long time and may be removed later, similar to succulent topped pumpkins I’ve made in the fall season. As shown in the photo below, smaller white pumpkins were used.

Any type of succulents will work from Echeverias to Sempervivums. Use a few donkeys tail to drip over the sides. Usually, the succulents will self-root eventually into the moss.

The only ironic thing is that I was sure I had tons of photos of them, but going into my detachable hard drives yesterday, I realized I could only find a few photos. Why? I don’t know. Probably because I told people not to post photos too. Maybe they are sitting on my old laptop that is collecting dust on the floor in my office. Here’s just the few that I located in this post.

Pomegranates can be kind of expensive at times. I do think they look better with large pomegranates, over small ones. We searched out pommies at various grocery stores, and if they were bright red, firm, and perfect, I would grab them to make my new idea of succulent topped holiday pommie balls.

The steps are so easy to make them: Glue some moss with a glue gun to the top, add the succulents with roots into the moss using the glue gun glue to secure each carefully and try not damage the succulent, and add the bows or whatever decorations you would like.

The pommies looked so nice on a table, setup somewhere in the home. I could see them lined up on a large dining table at each plate, or even within holiday greens as a centerpiece. Either way – adorable and natural. They also made a perfect hostess gift and were again, what I thought was a very unique idea!

I haven’t made any this year (2023) because I don’t have any succulents in stock, but if I did, I’d be tempted. If you make some, let me know. Please share your thoughts!!!

Enjoy your Friday!

Cathy Testa
Container Crazy CT Plant Blogger
Broad Brook, Connecticut

Date of this post: 12/15/2023

Shore Pine for Holiday Wreath Making

Leave a comment

Shore pine was not one I had on my list of greens for a few years until I discovered it. It is odd how you may know so much about plants and such, but then make a new discovery just because you noticed some sitting in a box at the supply house!

I was picking up my typical greens’ orders in early December one year, and I just happened to see it in a box on another table, and asked, “What’s this?” The reply was, “shore pine.”

Next question, of course, was, “Can I get some?”

I always wished wholesale suppliers would have classes. A manager literally rolled her eyes at me when I asked or suggested this idea. I understand, they just don’t have the time, they are so busy, and teaching us is not part of their job, but I do wish there was an intro to what they have and how to use it, especially if someone was a newbie.

Anyhow, if you are new to the world of greens for wreath making, hopefully you found me because I started writing this month about the various greens used in holiday wreaths and kissing balls. Each post is covering a different holiday greenery.

Shore pine is a needled evergreen tree or shrub. The needles appear and grow along very long stems. The whole stem is covered with the short dark green needles, so you end up with a nice long piece of fully covered dark green needles on a stem.

The stems are somewhat flexible, but I think what I liked about these the most is how long the stems were. You could literally use whole pieces of the shore pine branches to make a quick simple wreath without cutting it into pieces if you wanted to, and because they are flexible, they were easy to bend in a circle around a wreath frame. Then just using some green florist wire, wrap here and there to secure it to your wreath frame.

One year, I made some Peace Sign wreaths. I used coat hangers to make the center of the peace sign and used the shore pine wired to it – it was relatively easy to secure. Again, the long pieces of the shore pine worked well for this application.

On this wreath, I also secured moss behind the shore pine so it would be a nice green color.

Shore pine is a great item to add to the mix. It offers another texture when side by side with other greens. It also makes an excellent thriller tall piece in the center of outdoor holiday pots.

Another way that I used it was as pot toppers. Rings with greens that would be placed level on the top of a pot around the circular perimeter of it.

By just adding some wired pinecones, it was an instant way to dress up a pot. On this photo above, I used small green foam type wreaths as the base, covered them with moss, and just bent the long stems of shore pine over it and wired it in easily.

This dream catcher wreath I made has a round bamboo type wreath under it. As you can see, the long pieces of shore pine were perfect to just mold around it easily and secure.

As far as longevity of the shore pine, I would notice some minor tip yellowing after the holiday or if the shore pine was stored too long. Otherwise, it had decent needle retention and I found it was an easy use green.

Some pieces would have tightly closed cones attached too. And when provided as an item in my box of greens, it was another layer of green texture to use.

I can’t find the photo of this but years ago, a friend at my workshops, made a horse profile wreath and the shore pine is perfect to create the mane along the horse’s head portion. When I find the photo, I will update this post! But any animal like wreaths you may consider making, think of the shore pine as useful for things like that – a tail or whatever. All you have to do is get creative!

Hope you are enjoying these “greens reviews” posts and are having the time to make your own creations this season.

Thank you for visiting,

Cathy Testa
Container Crazy CT
Broad Brook, CT

Boxwood in Holiday Wreaths and Kissing Balls

Leave a comment

Do you know what the word Buxus is? It is the genus name for boxwood. It’s one of the easier botanical names to remember. Anyhow, boxwood evergreen shrubs have rounded or obovate shaped leaves, on slender green stems. It is a dense evergreen shrub used in landscapes and commonly available at nurseries. It is also a greenery available from floral suppliers or retail locations at nurseries during the winter to make festive arrangements such as fresh greens wreaths and holiday kissing balls.

As with most evergreen shrubs, there are many varieties or cultivars available of boxwood. Some have more narrow leaves and others have oblong leaves. For example, common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) has elliptic or ovate to oblong leaves. Because I am a plant person, I notice the differences in the leaf shapes on boxwoods more so probably than a typical person. The leaves are small and glossy on both sides of the leaves usually, and in arrangements for the holidays, the leaves retain their dark green glossy color very well. Boxwood greens add a nice textural and color element.

I’ve written about the benefits of using boxwood in wreath making before on this blog. For example, there is no sap to contend with as with balsam. After a while, your hands get very sticky when making many fresh holiday wreaths, so that can be a benefit. Also, the boxwood bunches or stems are light weight. I liked using them to make boxwood only holiday kissing balls because of this feature, as other kissing balls would get terribly heavy when I did a mix of greens to create them.

The Unexpected Advantages of Using Boxwood to Make Wreaths
Prior post about boxwood above

As far as a quality green, I like boxwood on the greens list. It tends to give a classy look to a wreath or kissing ball. Used alone or with a mix of other greenery, it works very well. In my mind, it is a nice benefit or not sure of the word, but a higher-end type of greenery to use and if you can afford it, I say do it!

A holiday kissing ball made with boxwood greens only.
Wreath by Cathy T with Boxwood and Magnolia Leaves
Boxwood ready for a workshop

Typically, the boxwood I would order was packed in boxes or burlap bags, and they were always fresh and good looking. To keep them hydrated, if I felt they needed it, I would take a bucket or bin like the one shown above, fill it with water and drop the boxwood tips and stems into the water to soak them for a bit. Then I would shake off the excess water after they had a good soaking (maybe about 15 minutes or so). I would shake the bunch and then lay them on beach towels to somewhat drain.

As mentioned in my prior posts, the greens need to be kept cold. In the florist trade, it indicates the boxwood greens should be in a cooler at a temperature between 36 degrees F to 41 degrees F. Anyhow, I kept them in the waxed coated boxes or the burlap bags in an unheated garage. However, if I soaked them in water to rehydrate, sometimes I would just place them in a bin after the excess water was removed. Again, rehydrating them was not often needed.

Boxwood on a Wreath by C Testa (with Lemon Leaf shown also)

Another nice aspect about using boxwood is the stems are very sturdy. I would recut the stem ends to a bit of a point to insert into kissing balls center ball foam easily. BTW, you may also rehydrate boxwood before use by recutting the stem ends and inserting them into vases of water, but I usually did not do that or need to. As noted above, if there was a need to rehydrate them, I’d do the soak method in water in a tub for a bit then dry them out a bit so they would not be repacked soaking wet. Outdoor weather like snow or sleet did not bother the look of the greens either once they were in a wreath outside.

For a couple years, I offered boxwood in my box of greens mixes. These boxes of greens were for people who wanted to make their own wreaths at home. Included were many other fresh greens such as balsam or Douglas fir, Salal lemon Leaf (prior post), yew, silver fir, berried juniper, holly, and more. I never harvested boxwood from my own shrubs or others, but these shrubs are common in the landscapes, so if you happen to have a big enough shrub stash of them, they can be harvested from to add to your holiday wreaths. Typically pruning boxwood is done in the spring but taking some minor cuttings for your arrangements is usually harmless for winter decorations.

Of all the greens I would order, boxwood was usually the highest price on the list. Therefore, I did treat it as a quality green to use with a mix of greens, but if I had some left over or someone wanted a boxwood only wreath or kissing ball, I would charge accordingly. The price was worth it because boxwood is an elegant green that makes your arrangements look classy, in my opinion.

Wreath made by C. Testa with a mix of greenery. Boxwood accents shown.
Wreath by C Testa with Yew, Lemon Leaf and Boxwood
Boxwood Only Wreath by C Testa

Another nice aspect of using boxwood is it was a faster assembly as shown above on this wreath with only boxwood. It would take a lot less time than bunching various greens together.

Boxwood Only Holiday Kissing Ball

Snips and tips of boxwood greens are nice in vases or other holiday decorations. For example, if you wanted to make a snow scene in a glass bowl, the cuttings can be used in there and last a long time with no odd scent. And as mentioned good color retention. I really can’t think of any downfalls of using it. I would rate it higher as a good quality type of green to use and hopefully you will have the opportunity to do so in your own holiday arrangements!

Cathy Testa
Container Crazy CT
Broad Brook, CT

Boxwood is a wonderful and classy green to use in your holiday wreaths.

Using Salal Lemon Leaf in Holiday Arrangements

Leave a comment

Salal lemon leaf is a widely used green in the florist industry, but I didn’t know it. I was first introduced to it by my contact at a florist supply house when I asked, “What other greens hold up well that I can add to my greens list for the holidays?” She mentioned Salal.

Salal – Oval Green Leaves Shown above with other greens

Salal lemon leaf is packaged in bundles with rubber bands. Each stem holds several oval shaped green serrated leaves at the growing tips grouped in an alternating pattern. At first glance, I thought, “Wow, these are beautiful.” I definitely wanted to get some, and so I did.

Ironically, this plant is not in my plant references books in my horticulture home library, so I had to look it up online. One site describes this plant very well, see here: https://www.cfgreens.com/resources/hero-of-the-forest-floor

Salal Lemon Leaf

As I read that linked post above, I didn’t realize it grew by rhizomes and I’ve never seen a picture of this plant in its natural state. Apparently, it grows like an understory plant in the forest. It is noted under the botanical name, Gaultheria shallon. It the florist industry, it is listed and commonly known as Salal Lemon Leaf.

Salal is a wonderful alternative, in my opinion, to holiday magnolia leaves. They have a similar shape, but they do not have the thickness or the brown color on the undersides of the leaves like magnolia leaves do, but they are a very pretty glossy green color, and are smaller sized. Apparently, if you rub the leaves together, they smell like lemon from what one website indicated, but I’m not sure on that. I never noticed any scent or fragrance from the leaves.

Salad used in a Holiday Pot Creation by C Testa

They come packed with the rubber bands and bunched in boxes lined with plastic. Sometimes wet newspaper was wrapped at the stem ends to hold some moisture, and sometimes I would remoisten paper towels to wrap on the ends too, but overall, this plant really held up well prior to use, and on wreaths and in holiday kissing balls, and after. I also discovered that it holds up pretty well in vases of water too by recutting the stem ends, because one year, I had some left over and set them in a vase of water.

Salal Lemon Leaf in Vase of Water

I referred to salal lemon leaf in my workshops as a “premium green.” They are pricier than other greens obtained for wreath making and are used more in floral design. It is not a green commonly seen in traditional wreaths sold in the retail settings and stores. As I began to work with salal more each holiday season, I discovered more about it that I loved. Using salal lemon leaf became a real pleasure to me. I think they are gorgeous.

One year, for the heck of it, I thought about spraying silver paint on them. To my amazement, the silver held on quite well outside. I don’t recall if it rained or snowed a lot that year though, but I was a bit surprised the spray paint did not wash off the lemon leaves.

The stems of the salal are very long and somewhat hard but flexible, but they were strong enough too, if you wanted to carefully insert some into a kissing ball, it would penetrate the Styrofoam or florist foam ball with ease, so long as you don’t jam it in there. I would hold the tip of the stem closely at the bottom and push it into the ball for holiday kissing balls here or there. I like the look of wreaths and kissing balls with a mix of greens so this was always a special touch added.

Kissing Ball with Salal and Other Fresh Greens by C Testa

Salal lemon leaf looks gorgeous in wreaths. I suppose you could make a whole wreath with just salal, but it is pricy, so to me it was a beautiful accent plant to use to add those special touches on the hand-made wreaths. Each bundle comes with many stems, and I would keep them stored as bundles before each use.

As with my other holiday greens, a cold room is best for storage before use, like an unheated garage. I also put a tarp over the boxes. I guess that was my method to ensure they stayed as cold as possible and avoided any direct sunlight from garage windows, but in the floral industry, these are kept in florist coolers.

I never “treated” them with any products to maintain freshness but there may be some out there, I am not sure. It wasn’t needed overall for my holiday creations. The leaves also, to my pleasure, held up very well in the windy conditions for a couple balcony high-rise clients I had. They did not break off which is so important because the wind is very extreme on some days in the middle of winter on the top outdoor balcony floor of a 38-story building, and so I was so pleased this green was good to use in my big wreaths which hung on a wall outside.

I always mix various greens together but at one of my workshops, a lady put a batch of salal on her wreath and alternated batches with other greens. It came out lovely and here’s a photo of her holding her wreath from that workshop, which one of my last workshops for fresh greens wreath making – a celebration year (2019). The year before COVID arrived.

I also sold boxes of various holiday greens and added stems of salal to the mix. One year, a lady made garland with her greens box for her stair railing at her home and shared this photo with me. I thought it was just beautiful and a very useful way to highlight this florist quality green.

I felt salal stood out well in the various wreaths I made. I kind of fell in love with this product and really felt it was a wonderful and long-lasting item to offer. I know all the women, and sometimes men, who attended my workshops loved using it too. I would tell them to disperse the salal lemon leaf in places on their wreath to serve as an accent. It also worked well in holiday pots as shown above in this post.

Salal in a Wreath by C Testa

I never really experienced anything bad about using it or storing it – so long as you received it fairly fresh from your floral supplier. It would sometimes have a smell in the box that would remind me of stem rot, so I was always sure to check on it – make sure it was okay, not too damp in the box at the stem ends and staying fresh. Overall, it was the case and never an issue. I never misted the leaves and kept those dry and cold in the boxes when stored before use.

Salal in a wreath by C Testa

Salal lemon leaf made the wreaths, kissing balls, garland, and holiday pots look more professional and luxury style in my opinion, so it was a keeper on the fresh greens list every year. I’m glad it is one I asked about early on! Hope you will use it too in your creations.

Thank you for visiting and Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Cathy Testa
Located in East Windsor/Broad Brook, CT
Date of Post: 11/23/2023

Making a Wreath by C Testa
Salal Lemon Leaf Photo by C Testa

Stay tuned as I will continue to go over the various fresh holiday greens used in wreaths. So far, I’ve covered Yew, Holly, and with this post, Salal. See prior posts for more information. I hope you are enjoying this upcoming holiday season.

Note: I am making Ribbon Holiday Wreaths this year for sale – see my www.WorkshopsCT.com page for information or visit me on Facebook or Instagram under Container Crazy CT name. Thank you – Cathy T