Happy Thanksgiving to all our garden friends! This season always feels like the perfect moment to slow down and appreciate the plants that brighten our landscapes, lift our spirits, and stick with us through every chilly morning and warm holiday glow. Today, we’re giving thanks for some of the easiest, most rewarding, and most beloved choices in the garden: Knock Out® Roses, Drift® Roses, Holly plants, Lavender, Arborvitae bushes, and Fruit trees.
These garden staples deliver color, fragrance, evergreen structure, wildlife support, and year-round cheer, making them top picks for Thanksgiving and Christmas landscapes. And because Nature Hills ships landscape-grade, nursery-grown, outdoor-ready plants all season long, you can tuck these beauties under the tree or into the garden even as winter settles in. That means deeper roots, stronger starts, and gifts that grow for years.
Let’s give thanks for the plants that keep on giving!
Plants We’re Most Thankful For:
- Knock Out® Roses and Drift® Roses: These easy-to-grow Roses bring a burst of life when little else is blooming. Their rich petals and soft fragrance drift through the garden like a warm memory. Their compact shape, glossy leaves, and carefree nature make them ideal companions to flowering annuals, sun annuals, and Perennials. They are lovely along borders, walkways, or mass-planted for a showy display that lasts from spring to frost. If you want to keep them looking their best, light structural shaping in late winter pairs beautifully with smart seasonal timing. Learn more with this guide to pruning Roses.
- Holly plants: Nothing says holiday spirit like Holly. Those jeweled red berries, perched against deep green evergreen foliage, offer beauty even on the dullest winter days. Songbirds flock to the berries, adding movement and melody to your landscape when everything else goes still. Holly makes a classic foundation shrub, a highlight near your front entry, or a standout winter accent.
- Lavender: Cool-toned foliage, cloudlike texture, and that unmistakable soothing fragrance make Lavender the garden’s own calming breath. Whether lining a pathway or topping a sunny pot, its soft, aromatic presence has been bringing peace to gardeners young and old for ages. It pairs easily with Zinnias, Lantana, and drought-tolerant Perennials for a breezy cottage garden look.
- Arborvitae: A quiet, elegant hedge of Arborvitae offers a sense of privacy, shelter, and peace that few other plants can mimic. Their evergreen walls soften noise, create sanctuary, and gently carve out your own calming space from the chaos of the world. Green Giant Arborvitae, in particular, stands tall as a steady, dependable guardian of the garden. For best long-term performance, ongoing soil structure makes all the difference. Healthy roots thrive when you understand the living world beneath your feet, supported by smart soil health practices.
- Fruit trees: Apple tree, Peach tree, Pear tree, Fig tree, and other home orchard favorites create their own kind of abundance. They give shade in summer, blossoms in spring, and the incomparable reward of fresh fruit grown sustainably right at home. From healthier snacking to reducing food miles, homegrown fruit makes a small but meaningful step toward a gentler, greener lifestyle. For gardeners planting new trees this coming spring, this guide to planting Fruit trees helps ensure a strong start. Pair them with Berry bushes like Raspberry bushes or Blueberry bushes to support a robust edible landscape.
Holiday Dormancy and Winter Handling
Nature Hills is shipping live nursery-grown plants in our Holiday Collection now through Christmas.
All plants shipped during late fall and winter arrive naturally dormant. In warm climates, you can plant now, allowing roots to settle and strengthen before spring. In colder zones, keep dormant plants outdoors but protected, such as against a north or east wall, in an unheated garage, or tucked beside a sheltered porch where they stay cold but will not break dormancy. Keep soil barely moist, not wet, and maintain dormancy until you can plant in early spring.
Roses: Once planted in spring, choose full sun and well-drained soil. Water deeply during the first growing season. Add mulch and prune lightly in early spring.
Holly: After winter rest, plant in part to full sun with evenly moist, well-drained soil. Water regularly until established, then as needed. Shape lightly in late winter.
Lavender: Keep containers cold and dry during dormancy. Once planted in spring, choose sandy, sharply drained soil and full sun. Clip lightly after bloom for shape.
Arborvitae: Protect dormant roots from excess moisture in winter storage. In spring, plant in full sun to light shade with moist soil. Water deeply during the first season and mulch well.
Fruit trees: Store dormant trees where temperatures stay cold but above deep freeze. Plant as soon as the soil is workable. After planting, provide full sun, fertile soil, and room to grow. Apply fertilizer for fruit trees in spring and use dormant oil spray for fruit trees where needed.
Wrapping It Up With Gratitude
These are the plants we are truly thankful for, the ones that bloom their hearts out, stand tall through winter, stay fragrant through summer, and fill our gardens with joy. They are garden gifts that keep pace with your traditions and bring beauty to both Thanksgiving tables and Christmas porches.
From all of us here at Nature Hills Nursery, Happy Thanksgiving!
