We’re wrapping up the year with a little extra garden joy. In this issue, you’ll find a final call for our 2026 garden trends webinar, and we hope to "see" you there. Plus, festive containers and wreaths that make the most of winter greens, a compact “candy cane” charmer for your beds, and a reminder of why sketching by hand is still so powerful. You’ll also step inside Sabrina and Freeland Tanner’s Napa Valley greenhouse for a Christmas transformation that just might spark your next creative idea.
Webinar Corner
Get Ahead of the Curve:
Master the 2026 Garden Trends Before They Bloom
Final call! Our webinar is today at 6 p.m. Eastern*. Join us for a fun, idea-packed hour with designer Rebecca Sweet, horticulturist Denise Kelly, and Jim Peterson of Garden Design. You’ll get practical ideas on keystone plants, light-smart layouts, tasteful maximalism, jewel-toned full-sun stars, firescaping awareness, climate-savvy edibles, green-drenched gardens (pictured), and smart ways to use AI garden assistants. You’ll also receive printable notes, the full recording, a live Q&A, and giveaways you won’t want to miss.
Register for $20 USD
*Can't join us at that time?
All registrants will receive the recording following the webinar.
We love seeing the containers and wreaths you create as the garden shifts from fall to winter and into the holidays. It’s such a lovely way to celebrate the garden’s offerings, gathering branches and flowers and sharing them for everyone to enjoy. Left: Birch poles, Fraser fir, incense cedar, magnolia, red huckleberry, variegated boxwood, sugar pine cones, and faux red winterberry make up this container by Catie Trudeau, ASLA, The Outside Design Studio; Chicago, IL. Right: "All the pinecones and greens are from cuttings near the church where this is displayed, and the white branches are from Trader Joe's." Katie Brindley; Philadelphia, PA
"You do not need to know anything about a plant to know that it is beautiful."—Monty Don
Candy Cane sorrel (Oxalis versicolor) is a compact charmer for Zones 7–9, reaching about 6 inches tall and 2 to 3 inches wide. While many oxalis are grown for their foliage, this one steals the show with twisted red-bordered petals that only open in sunny weather. It blooms from mid to late summer, yet its candy-cane stripes feel perfectly festive this month. Photo courtesy of K. van Bourgondien.
In this piece from The Paper Garden Workshop, you’ll step inside the design process and see why starting with a simple pencil sketch can be so powerful. Hand-drawing makes it easier to explore ideas freely, clarify concepts on tracing paper or on site, and share early sketches that invite conversation instead of feeling “finished.” The takeaway: let your first concepts be messy and hand-drawn. You never know where that will take you for your garden plan!
Friends With Nice Places...
The letter below shows how Sabrina and Freeland Tanner celebrate Christmas by transforming their Napa Valley greenhouse into a festive showcase using vintage garden antiques, seasonal foliage, and her core design principles—scale, texture, color, and surprise. Sabrina encourages experimenting in unexpected spaces, letting objects hold visual weight, and drawing inspiration from arrangements, antiques, and everyday discoveries. One small design spark, she says, can inspire an entire creative journey.
I hope her letter sparks something in you!
- Jim Peterson
Celebrating Christmas in Sabrina and Freeland Tanner’s
Napa Valley Greenhouse
by Sabrina Tanner
Hello fellow garden enthusiasts and Happy December 2025!
IMAGINING SOMETHING NEW TO DO...
During this season I would like to share with you all the Christmas decorations and floral arrangements in my greenhouse. Each year, I like to celebrate the holiday season with different tablescapes and floral centerpieces. This year, instead of setting up displays in my house as usual…I thought, why not in the
greenhouse.
GATHERING IN OUR COLLECTIONS...
Over the last thirty years my husband, Freeland and I have acquired many wonderful garden-related antique and vintage items. Our collections are varied and numerous including garden chairs, hand tools, watering cans, flower frogs (for arranging), lawn sprinklers, vintage glazed flower pots, metal urns, miniature garden ornaments and even some architectural historical building remnants. I have gathered additional seasonal fruits, flowers and foliage from my garden as part of these Christmas season displays.
SCALE, PERSPECTIVE, SHAPES and FORMS, LAYERING TEXTURES, COLOR ECHOES, SURPRISES...
As I began to redecorate the greenhouse, I employed my same design theories as in garden reworks, which can also be applied to reconfiguration of interior spaces. How do shapes, forms, textures along with foliage colors and flowers work into your garden or home space? Maybe one could try even creating beautiful seasonal vignettes using indoor plants with vintage furniture and lighting. Objects such as a chair, table, mirror, container or vessel, etc. can “hold” a space visually or create a special “moment” in the overall design
aspect as well. Did anyone find my “surprise?"
ALWAYS EXPERIMENTING AND ALWAYS LEARNING...
Becoming a successful landscape and garden designer has instilled in me to always think beyond the expected. I do not often say “no” to a client’s favorite plant or color choice. Instead, I engage myself and them into a creative journey of what could be and reimagine the spaces. Many of my best garden design combination ideas come from relaxing time spent creating floral arrangements. Other sources of inspiration come from interior design magazines, browsing through antique stores and attending outdoor street fairs. I think to myself, “one little nugget of design inspiration can lead to a whole new creative journey”. In closing, I would like to acknowledge my sincere appreciation to my artistic partner, Freeland, who provides endless amounts of encouragement and creative support to me. I also want to thank Jim, for allowing
me to contribute to this incredible website he and his team created for all of us to enjoy.
SENDING BEST WISHES FOR ANOTHER EXCITING GARDENING YEAR IN 2026!
Sabrina Tanner, PROSCAPE LANDSCAPE DESIGN Email: sabrinaproscape@comcast.net
WEBSITE: www.freelandtannerdesigns.com
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