Winter Interest in the garden

Many of us may not think of winter when we are designing a garden. But if you live in a four season climate, including plants that will still look beautiful under blankets of snow, will enrich your garden. There are a number of trees and shrubs that you can plant to ring in the winter and maintain the inviting atmosphere of your garden. And of course when you do that initial design take into account the plants or trees you already have and how they might look in your winter garden.

When designing your garden, it may be tempting to remove some large trees. Unless you really need to do so to open up space or sunlight I’d recommend not removing large trees. Evergreen pine trees, Norway spruce, and oak trees look majestic in the winter, provide habitat for birds and squirrels and can become the centerpiece or at least a border to draw the eye to what else your garden has to offer in the winter. If you are an artist, the contrast of light and dark in winter months is striking and provides plenty of artistic inspiration.

Winter shrubs and flowers

A mix of trees and shrubs as well as flowers that shoot up lovely pod shafts is a good place to start. I recommend Japanese irises. When mine go to seed, I leave the tall seed pods to create a pretty show in the winter. Yucca is another plant that produces long shafts when the plants flower. I leave these as well for the snow to highlight. Yucca plants, along with rhododendrons, also stay green all winter long. Rhododendrons set their buds for the next year in late fall. There isn’t anything lovelier than seeing buds in the winter, even if you know they aren’t going to open until the spring. The plants’ branches are fairly flexible. After heavy snows, simply grip the branches gently and shake off excess snow or ice so that the branches don’t break. The branches can hold a lot of weight so only shake off what is necessary so that you don’t break the branches by accident.

Another excellent shrub for the winter garden is Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick Tree. This shrub is winter hardy and after the leaves fall, all of the curly branches stand out like no other plant. This may be an ideal plant to use as a centerpiece for your garden. For best results buy non-grafted varieties which grow from their own rootstock. If you buy a non-grafted variety, you may spend a lot of time clipping suckers from the trunk.

Smaller winter landscaping trees

My favorite trees for beauty in all seasons are: wisteria, lavender twist weeping redbud (or Coventry), and weeping cherry. Each has something unique to offer each season. In the winter, wisteria trees have long velvety green seedpods. These may brown as the winter deepens but the branches and the seedpods create a striking effect in the winter garden. The shape of both the weeping cherry and the lavender twist weeping red bud is what makes it beautiful even without leaves. The lavender twist contorts as it grows so when blankets of snow fall upon it, it creates a lacey veil of beauty. The weeping cherry, if not pruned to look like a boy with a bowl haircut, has long weeping branches that nearly touch the ground. When these fill with snow, a walk in the winter garden is well worth while.

Ponds and birdbaths

Including a pond or birdbath in your garden is another way to enhance your garden. Even if you keep fish, they sell electric floating heaters that kick in at 32 degrees to keep the water from freezing and thus keep your fish alive through they winter. They go into semi-hibernation this time of year so this perfectly safe. Although snow will surround the pond, with the heating element, and perhaps a large upright rock, this adds another dimension of beauty to your garden. A birdbath can also be a lovely enhancement. Some people choose to put small non-freezing pumps in their garden so that birds have a place to drink year round.

These are just a few plants and trees that will keep your garden looking beautiful all year long!