How to Decorate a Small Hay Wagon

Using Paints and Designs Creatively

• Traditional hay wagons are large flatbed or three-sided wagons pulled by tractors that haul tons of hay from the fields. Small decorative hay wagons emulate the big ones, but are more compact and fit in a landscape or front porch setting as a focal point of seasonal decor. Use paints or stains to create a contrast with your house color, so if the house is dark, the hay wagon should be light-colored. This will provide a counterpoint to your garden and highlight the displays you arrange in the wagon. For further decorative ideas, stencil designs onto the slats of the wagon that will give it a rustic flair.

Spring and Summer Flora

• You can separate a bale of hay and wrap it tightly with cord to create smaller bales that can be trimmed to different heights. This will provide you with different levels to display your decorations. Use a combination of plants, flowers and even herbs to create a spring and summer decoration. Place potted flowers, such as trailing petunias, impatiens and geraniums, on the different small bales and allow their tendrils to trail over the side of the hay wagon. For greenery, add ivy and train it to intertwine with the flowers and trail along as well. A few potted herbs, such as basil, rosemary and sage, are fragrant additions to the interior of the hay wagon and will also be useful in your cooking. For the 4th of July and Labor Day, use red, white and blue bunting tacked along the top edge of the hay wagon and intersperse red, white and blue wire ribbon through the wagon wheels.

Fall Festival

• Fall is harvest time, and you can reflect this season in your decorated wagon by removing the summer plants and replacing them with pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks, potted mums and sprays of dried flowers such as hydrangeas and cat-tails.

Winter Wonderland

• Integrate the hay wagon into your joyous holiday and winter decorating schemes. To provide contrast against the snow, paint the wagon a bright red. You can always repaint it in the spring. Add white stencils of trees, birds and animals to the red slats. Fill the wagon with pine boughs and hang a wreath decorated with a red bow over the front of the wagon above the hitch. Stack small bales of hay at different levels to supply a stand, nestled within the pine. On top of these, place red and pink poinsettias for contrast with the dark green pine. Intertwine red or dark green wire ribbon through the spokes of the wheel, and your small hay wagon has perfect curb appeal and color during the long winter months.