Making an entrance - entertaining tips

Sunset, Dec, 1999 by Lauren Bonar Swezey

Celebrate the season with festive front porch decorations

* "Welcome to our home!" proclaim these dazzling entryways trimmed for the holidays in silver and green, elegant pastels, and red and white. Flickering candles, the sparkle of lights, and masses of blooms in grouped containers exude warmth and good cheer as merrymakers gather.

The secret to the success of these entries is in the details. Each starts with a color theme. Then flowers at the peak of bloom are combined with

greenery and carefully chosen accessories. A handmade wreath on the door finishes the scene.

Use these displays to inspire your own holiday setting or follow our guidelines to replicate one you see here. The primary materials are readily available at nurseries, florists, hardware stores, and craft stores; adjust the amounts to fit the size of your entry. Certain plants may not be available in colder climates, so you may need to look for substitutions. Nurseries and florists will be able to suggest alternatives.

Shopping and making the wreath require the biggest commitments of time (for a shortcut, buy a wreath and embellish it with greenery, berries, and pinecones); once these are done, the porch displays go together quickly.

Elegant evergreens

Two young coast redwood trees draped in an abundance of twinkling white lights set the scene for this shimmering silver, green, and white entryway. The living trees are planted in galvanized steel buckets whose silver color catches the light. Below them and continuing down the path are "rock outcroppings" surrounded by miniature Christmas trees and paper white narcissus in spray-painted pots. Small galvanized steel pots punched with decorative designs make festive toe-level lights for the walkway, and a gleaming silver star wreath shines on the door.

TIME: About 2 hours (including stringing lights, excluding wreath)

MATERIALS

* Metal votives (instructions on page 118)

* Silver star wreath (instructions on page 118)

* Two living Christmas trees

* Two 16- to 20-inch-wide galvanized steel buckets (or other containers)

* 2-cubic-foot bag potting mix

* Seven large rocks, about 8 inches wide

* 16 river rocks, 3 to 4 inches wide

* Six terra-cotta pots, 6 inches wide (optional)

* 28 terra-cotta pots, 4 inches wide (optional)

* 1 can deep blue spray paint

* 1 can silver spray paint

* Six 6-inch miniature Christmas trees (Port Orford cedar and dwarf Alberta spruce)

* Six 4-inch miniature Christmas trees

* 22 paper white narcissus, 4-inch plants; or use 6-inch plants and divide into smaller containers

* 12 to 14 handfuls of gravel

DIRECTIONS

Make the metal votives and the silver star wreath. Transplant large trees into the buckets or other decorative containers, adding potting mix as necessary. Position large rocks on the porch and along the path as shown in the photo on page 112. Set small rocks randomly around them.

If using terra-cotta pots, spray-paint some of them blue accented with silver (allow blue paint to dry before spraying silver). Spray-paint others all silver. Or just spray-paint the plastic pots in which the miniature Christmas trees and narcissus are growing (remove plants first and wipe the pots clean before spraying).

When pots are dry, plant (or replant) the miniature trees and the paper whites in the pots. Place the trees behind the rocks, setting 6-inch trees to the outside of the path and 4-inch trees toward the center. Mix three or four pots of paper whites with each grouping.

Place the votives around or on top of the rocks. Finally, lightly spread gravel around the base of each display. Hang the wreath on the door.

Sophisticated pastels

Elegant white and pink poinsettias lit by the warm glow of terra-cotta votives lend a joyful air to this Spanish-style home. Pinecones and wispy green maidenhair ferns soften the tile steps.

TIME: 15 to 30 minutes, excluding wreath

MATERIALS

* Pinecone and eucalyptus wreath (instructions on page 120)

* One strawberry pot

* 2-cubic-foot bag potting mix

* Three 4-inch variegated creeping fig (Ficus pumila)

* One 8-inch white poinsettia

* Sphagnum moss

* Four or five tea-light candles

* Three 6-inch white poinsettias

* Six 4-inch pink poinsettias

* Three 2 3/8-inch marble or white poinsettias

* Three 6-inch terra-cotta pots

* 11 4-inch terra-cotta pots

* 10 3-inch terra-cotta pots

* Five 4-inch maidenhair ferns

* 15 pinecones (mixed sizes)

* Seven votive candles

DIRECTIONS

Make the wreath. Set the strawberry pot on the porch. Fill it to the base of the neck with potting mix. Plant the ficus in alternating pockets. Set the tall white poinsettia inside so the plastic rim sits just below the terra-cotta rim (there's no need to plant the poinsettia) and cover the top of the plastic pot with moss. Drop the tea lights into the empty strawberry pot pockets (make sure the tea lights are not too close to poinsettia or other foliage; add extra potting mix, if necessary, so the tops of the tea lights are level with the edges of the pockets).

Next, slip the potted poinsettias inside the appropriate-size terra-cotta pots. Arrange them on steps or walkways in attractive groupings, combining larger plants with smaller ones. Slip the maidenhair ferns into 4-inch terra-cotta pots and place them in the groupings to add greenery. Cluster pinecones around pots. Finally, drop votive candles into the remaining seven 3-inch terra-cotta pots and place them near (but not too close to) plants. Hang the wreath on the door.