Winter can be a dreary time in the landscape. However, your landscape can be interesting throughout the year. With a few choice plants, you can enjoy color and textural interest all winter. Consider the following ideas to brighten the winter season next year or enjoy the plants you see in your winter travels from the warmth of your vehicle.
Add evergreen trees and shrubs for color. Pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, juniper, arborvitae, boxwood, viburnum, Mahonia and others add various shades of green with different textures. Holly requires male and female plants to produce berries but the red is a bright spot on a cold day. Deciduous hollies also make as striking winter display. Many can be seen in fencerows along the roadside this time of year.
Many plants have attractive bark of various colors. Amid the grays and whites of winter, these plants really stand out. River birch, sycamore, Japanese maple, shrub dogwoods, shagbark hickory, Kentucky coffee tree, cherry, sweet gum, and weeping willows have distinctive bark textures and colors to name a few.
Other plants have interesting forms or branching habits. They add architectural interest to the winter garden. Stately forms, twisted twigs or weeping branches attract attention. Bald cypress, cotoneaster, oakleaf hydrangea, weeping mulberry, sumac, corkscrew and weeping willow, and ornamental grasses can be admired in a winter landscape.
Plants with interesting fruit can be one of the showiest additions to the winter garden. Dried seed pods and fruit can also be attractive to birds which provide additional color to your frosty yard. Bittersweet, chokeberry, hawthorn, holly, crabapple, sumac, roses, hydrangea, red bud, honey locust, and sycamore have fruits of different colors and shapes.
Then there are the plants that will flower in the coldest times of the year before anything else has even thought of coming out of dormancy. Witch hazel, forsythia, Christmas rose, pussy willow, crocus, snowdrops, spring beauty, trout lily, and pansies are all fun plants because they get you ready for spring. Their bloom times all depend on the weather but it is possible to enjoy some of these even in the dead of winter.
As with all landscape designs, chose plants that are appropriate for your soil type and consider their mature size. If you have questions about any of the plants listed above, feel free to contact your local horticulture extension agent.
