The best landscapes are those that make an attractive appearance throughout all the seasons. With forethought and assistance in planning, your winter landscape can be as interesting in dormancy as in mid-season. And an added plus is observing the quiet beauty of winter in the landscape helps us appreciate all the goodness nature has to offer.
After working hard to maintain the vitality of our lawns and landscapes all summer, it’s easy to set aside the interest in outdoor details about the same time the turf slows its growth. But whether we notice or not, winter forms with textures and colors giving our outdoors a special kind of attraction.
Landscape plans should always consider how the plantings will appear in the winter months. Using a variety of shapes and textures will add a multi-seasonal interest that you’ll enjoy more and more as the seasons pass.
Evergreens of all sorts really come into their own as the flashier plants lose their foliage. Few can compare with the majesty of a mature Cedar or the grace of a White Pine. Use evergreens as a backdrop to accent other plant material like the impressive Camellia, the fragrant Wintersweet shrub, the cup shaped Lenten Rose, or the medicinal Witch Hazel shrub. Though evergreens offer a certain constancy in their colors and shapes, there is still a vast selection. From 6-inch-high Creeping Junipers to 40-foot Arborvitae and the many shades of green through silvery blues to deep violet hues, evergreens offer so much variety.
Brightly colored berries are another great addition to any “off season” landscape. Hollies may be the best-known berry producers with their deep glossy leaves and bright red fruit. While they are favored for decorations during holidays, you should also consider the salt-tolerant Barberry bush, thorny branched Pyracantha, and low maintenance Cotoneaster, all of which are popular broadleaf evergreens which produce berries.
Some of the spring flowering trees that set their flower buds during winter months add an additional feature to the outline of a landscape. The White Dogwood tree has unusually large buds that are extremely visible during the winter months.
At this time of year, colors are usually more muted than in spring or midsummer, but they can be just as beautiful. Red-twig Dogwood is a shrub which makes good on its name by displaying its bright red branches after losing its leaves. Ornamental grasses offer a wide variety of colors and textures. Flame grass, Adagio Maiden grass, Pink Muhly Grass, and Carex are among the ornamental grass varieties that have gorgeous colors which work well as a complement to the deep green of evergreens. Ornamental Blue Fescue keeps its cool silver-blue color all winter. The Lavender Cotton plant is another perennial that maintains a silver appearance throughout the year.
The varieties and choices of plant material are abundant for creating a landscape that enhances both the appearance and value of your property through all seasons. With the help of a professional, you can retain your landscape’s plant material throughout the year while your landscape gives you different looks each season.
I call this a WIN-WIN landscape!
By Misty Johns, Coastal Gerrry, Inc.
