Holiday harvest: some of the season's most intriguing and evocative displays start in your own backyard. Look to the garden and woodlands for all the elements you need to create one-of-a-kind winter decorations.

Publication: Country Living Gardener

Publication Date: 22-DEC-04

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Decorating with materials gleaned from the outdoors comes naturally to gardeners. Not only do their rustic charms complement today's casual interiors, but the key elements--evergreen and holly boughs, winterberries, twigs, ivy, and vines are plentiful, inexpensive, and delightfully easy to work with. "Everything we need for the holidays is out in the garden," says designer Donald Kirkby. "All we have to do is walk outside and gather it up."

In Donald's signature style, formal and informal elements mix to take the natural look to a fresh new level, in which timeless elegance and carefree lushness combine with ease. Adding time-weathered garden antiques--an old urn, a stone fountain, or garden statuary--is the quickest way to...

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