by Erin Hynes
Let's be honest: winter can be bleak. But you can battle winter bleakness by giving your eyes something other than piles of snow or swaths of brown grass to rest on as you gaze out your window (or as you scurry to the door from the car). Here are suggestions for creating winter interest in your home landscape with plants, structures and art.
Plants
Many people are so dazzled by the showy flowers and leaves that plants sport in warm months that they overlook traits that make plants appealing in winter. Evergreens such as pines, spruce and fir are obvious options, but many other plants have features that hold up to cold and snow. Some suggestions follow. Need more ideas? Pay a visit to an arboretum or botanic garden in winter to see what plants still look good.
Dried Flowers
Hydrangea flowers hold up to winter
Several small shrubs and flowering perennials hang onto their dried flowerheads through the winter. Don't cut them back until new growth starts in spring. Here are a few suggestions:
- Sedum — the taller ones, such as 'Autumn Joy' and similar cultivars such as 'Matrona' and 'Purple Emperor'
- Hydrangea (all types)
- Coneflower
- Sumac — For most yards, choose a smaller cultivar such as 'Tiger Eyes.'
Fruit
Rosehips are the fruit of rose bushes
Plants that hang onto their fruit in winter lend tiny but bright bursts of color to the landscape — many also attract birds looking for a sweet snack. Check plant descriptions for the term persistent fruit to find these gems. The following are good places to start your search:
- Holly — because male and female flowers are on separate plants, you need one male plant so female plants develop berries
- Cotoneaster
- Flowering crabapples (look for a small, disease-resistant variety such as 'Prairie Fire')
- Old-fashioned rose varieties with large hips, the crabapple-like fruit that roses produce
Bark
Once the leaves fall, many trees and shrubs reveal bark with an interesting color or texture. Birches are perhaps the best known in this group, but there are other options. Consider Amur chokecherry (Prunus mackii), with its shiny copper-colored bark; the various dogwoods with red young twigs, such as Tartarian dogwood (Cornus alba); ninebark, which has shaggy bark; staghorn sumac, which has furry stems (get an improved cultivar such as 'Tiger Eyes'); or oakleaf hydrangea, which has peeling reddish bark.
Evergreen Needles and Leaves
Dwarf false cypress in front of an ornamental grass
Conifers such as fir, spruce, junipers, arborvitae, Canada hemlock and pine are reliable sources of winter color in the garden. If you're short on space, look to dwarf versions of these conifers to add punches of green.
The garden offers evergreen-ness beyond conifers. Many other plants hang onto their leaf color despite the cold (although that leaf color might be blue or purple, instead of green). Whether you get to enjoy this trait depends on the height of the plant relative to the snow depth, but here are a few to try:
Shrubs. Rhododendron, azalea, holly, barberry, boxwood
Groundcovers. Pachysandra, common periwinkle, cotoneaster, Japanese winter creeper, English ivy, creeping thyme, wild ginger
Perennials. Coral bells, dianthus, Christmas fern, Lenten-rose
Ornamental grasses. Blue fescue, blue oatgrass, blue-green moor grass (Sesleria), 'Ice Dance' sedge
Twisters and Weepers
Weeping trees and shrubs have a drooping main stem or branches. You can find weeping cultivars of many conifers, such as Eastern white pine, juniper, Norway spruce and Canada hemlock. Deciduous trees and shrubs — those that lose their leaves in fall — also have weeping forms; try dwarf flowering crabapple 'Louisa', weeping purple beech, bridal wreath spirea or weeping katsura tree.
Widely available trees and shrubs with corkscrew-shaped or contorted branches include Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (also called corkscrew hazel), corkscrew willow, contorted mulberry and contorted quince.
Ornamental Grasses
Miscanthus ornamental grass is stunning in winter
With a few exceptions, ornamental grasses make stunning additions to the winter garden. Not only do they hold their flowers well, they sway in the slightest breeze and make a whispering sound as the wind passes through them (which you can enjoy as you hustle from the detached garage to the house).
The following are exceptionally attractive in winter:
Miscanthus. Common names include Japanese silver grass, maiden grass and eulalia; some people erroneously refer to Miscanthus as pampas grass.
Most varieties of Miscanthus are tall — 5 to 6 feet is typical, although there are some 15-foot giants as well. Miscanthus flower are plume-shaped and turn silvery white in winter.
Some Miscanthus varieties take a long time to flower; in extreme northern states, they might not flower if the summer is short or cold. Some widely available varieties that flower early include 'Graziella' (don't confuse it with 'Gracillimus', which flowers late), "Silberfeder', 'Purprescens' (often sold as Flame Grass).
Feather reed grass. Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) — a narrow, upright grass — is a spring-bloomer that looks good in all seasons. One of the most widely grown ornamental grasses — the one you see in every mall parking lot — is 'Karl Foerster' feather reed grass. Similar-looking variegated cultivars are 'Overdam' and 'Avalanche.'
Fountain grass. Fountain grass has a beautiful arching form. Purple fountain grass is a popular annual (a plant that doesn't come back year after year); leave it up during the winter, then pull it out in spring. You can also grow a perennial fountain grass, such as 'Hamelin.'
Northern sea oats. The best feature of Northern sea oats is the dangling seedheads that quiver in the faintest breeze. Its seeds like to sprout up here and there in the garden, so you're sure to always have plenty of new plants each spring.
Yard Art
Perk up the winter garden with yard art
If it's deep winter and you can't wait until planting season to do something about your drab landscape, add some yard art for instant gratification. (I'm using the word "art" loosely here — loose enough to include pink flamingos, but not cutouts of bloomer-clad grandmothers bending over). Art and yard decorations don't have to be expensive. Consider a birdhouse (see our project for making a birdhouse birds will really use), birdbath (add a heater so the water doesn't freeze, or leave it empty for now), gazing ball or small statue.
Winter does present some limitations for art:
- If the ground is frozen, you can't use anything you have to stick on the ground — unless the snow is deep enough to hold it up).
- It has to be visible above the snow, unless you dig away the snow around it.
- It can't be terra cotta or ceramic. Water has a way of seeping into the pores and can crack the object when the water freezes.
Structures
A lit fence highlights a winter night
Arbors, pergolas, trellises, brick walls, attractive wood fences and even nice-looking garden sheds can give your eyes something pleasant to focus on amidst the snow and ice. They're a more expensive proposition than plants or art — and often are far more difficult to move around — so plan carefully.
Want to build your own? Check out these Manage My Life projects:
Build a Shed
Build an Arbor
Build a Playhouse
Build a Picket Fence
Erin Hynes learned a lot about winter interest while gardening in Minnesota.
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