creating garden interest in winter

By Barbara Arnold

Now that winter has finally arrived, and the ground is frozen and snow covered, it doesn’t seem quite fitting to be focused on the garden. Nevertheless, the winter landscape with its lack of bright colors, leaves, and flowers, offers a blank canvas to let your imagination wander. Take a look out the window and try to come up with some ideas on how to make the yard a four-seasons garden. A four-seasons garden is appealing year-round, with blooming bulbs in spring, annuals and perennials in summer, and colorful leaves in fall, but what can your garden offer during the cold winter months?

Typical front yard landscaping encompasses this idea with the use of small evergreen shrubs to add a touch of green to the otherwise dreary lawn. Some evergreen shrubs change color this time of year, such as Juniper Blue Chip, which will have a lovely purple cast, or the Youngstown Juniper, which will turn a reddish purple. Be careful when placing and planting, as single varieties planted close together will not appear as a group, but rather as a crowded collection of individuals, not the chorus you’re seeking.

Besides evergreens, other types of shrubs can supply winter interest. First consider what can be accomplished with added color and different textures. Upon close examination of Oakleaf Hydrangea, one finds a fascinating pattern to the bark and irregularity of the stem. Infusing color into the garden is easily achieved by the addition of Winterberry Holly, as it is a deciduous holly that sheds its leaves, all the better to show off its array of bright red berries throughout most of the winter. To produce these berries, you will need to plant both male and female plants together, as this plant is dioecious. Many people are familiar with the Red Twig Dogwood, with its red stems, as a vibrant backdrop to the garden. Mixing the yellow stems with the red creates a fiery display to warm your cold garden landscape. The Japanese Kerria, with its wonderful green bark, injects an element of early spring into the middle of winter.

Ornamental grasses lend an interesting blend of color and movement to the garden and come in a wide range of sizes, blade widths, leaf colors and plume types. Most turn lovely shades of tan and gold in winter and all maintain their shape throughout the seasons. Winter birds that feed on the seeds found in the plumes of the grasses can provide hours of entertainment as they hop to reach the seeds or land on the blades, bending them down to the ground as they eat.  The cold winter breezes make the grasses sway, disrupting the winter quietude with undulating waves.

Even remaining perennial stems and deadheads have a good winter effect. The specters of Sedum Autumn Joy deadheads are particularly stark and vivid against a background of freshly fallen snow. Black-eyed Susans and Coneflowers produce edible seeds for the birds. Perennials like Bergenia keep their green, red, and bronze foliage, as do many groundcovers like pachysandra, myrtle and ivy.

Evergreen trees like spruce and pines are a good constant background in the garden. The most important consideration is selecting the right plant for your garden, and placing and planting what can become a sizable tree in a space where it has room to grow and thrive. Do your homework and at least read the tag! You will need to have some idea how large the tree is to choose the appropriate placement, ensuring years of pleasure from your evergreen trees that does not diminish with the passing seasons.

Deciduous trees should not be out of the running simply because they lose their beautiful foliage during the colder months; this dropping of leaves simply highlights the intriguing bark that lies beneath. Paperbark Maples have a creamy caramel colored exfoliating bark that is much more noticeable in winter. The Carolina Silverbell has an almost black bark with gray stripes that in a white winter world is almost shocking. Look at weeping tree forms for emphasis. Some fruit trees, such as crabapples, hold their fruit long into winter, adding a splash of color.

So, remember, as there is no need for maintenance in the garden during the winter, look at your landscape now while it is bare and consider the potential for winter interest. Think ahead, rather than waiting until spring to start contemplating whether or not you can attain an overall better garden look by rearranging existing plants. Working on a garden plan in the winter will help in the spring when there is little time to think about it, benefiting you and your garden in the long run.

You can e-mail your questions about choosing winter interest plants to Barbara Arnold at info@ourohio.org

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Click here to login or register.