Want to know how you can welcome the arrival of fall frosts with anticipation? Assemble a winter landscape that not only boasts beauty, but also demands a little attention. It will keep your green thumb happily busy as you cultivate winter plants and shrubs. If you’re a diehard lawn ranger, you can even tackle a little winter lawn care. Winter landscapes offer plenty of opportunities to bundle up and get out and garden.
Winter Gardening
Gardens can be gorgeous in winter, too!
- Trees for Winter Bark
- Snow Covered Gardens
- Add Color to the Landscape
- Shrubs for Winter Flowers
- More Winter Gardening Tips
Stock your yard with winter plants to ensure a year-round outdoor show. These plants fill a winter landscape with color, textural interest and sculptural beauty. Some offer traits that are subtle; others have in-your-face attributes that command attention. Count on evergreens to provide the backbone to your winter landscape with their strong, steady color.
In addition to evergreens, fill your winter landscape with eye-catching trees. Coral bark Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’) and Japanese flowering cherry (Prunus x yedoensis) feature winter interest with colorful bark. Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) and Chinese or lacebark elm (Ulmus parvifolia) have exfoliating bark that creates intricate color patterns on their trunks.
You can also draft winter shrubs to infuse frosty scenes with cheery colors. Include hollies in your winter landscape for their evergreen leaves and brightly tinted berries. Variegated holly stands out when planted with other evergreens and can lend pretty prunings for use in winter floral arrangements. You’ll also want to plant several winter berry hollies (Ilex verticillata) to ensure you have plenty of berry-bedecked branches to enhance holiday décor.
Another fabulous shrub to use in gracing winter bouquets is Harry Lauder’s walking stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’). The twisted, gnarled stems on this shrub are beautiful when displayed against a blanket of winter snow. Red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’) also sparkles against a backdrop of snow, which makes the red stems shine.
Enjoy your garden in winter, too. Here’s how to create a beautiful garden for the cold months.
Winter lawn care isn’t too demanding, but you can find some chores to tackle, even in snowy regions. For instance, you can patrol to ensure no one drives on the lawn, possibly killing grass crowns and creating bare spots. You can also make sure you don’t accidentally toss salt-laden ice melt onto lawn areas beside walks and drives. The high salt content can harm grass and lead to bare spots.
In mild winter regions, warm-season lawns can trade post-frost beige for green when you plant winter grass, a type of ryegrass. By overseeding in fall with ryegrass, you can have a green and growing lawn to tend all winter long, including mowing and watering. If you opt not to overseed, use the lawn’s downtime to spotlight winter weeds. These green interlopers show up easily in a beige lawn, providing the perfect opportunity for herbicide spot treatments.
A well-designed winter landscape showcases strong lines during the garden’s quiet season. Inspect your own yard from several points indoors. Notice where the landscape lacks focus or eye-directing lines. Make notes of areas where you need to create winter interest. You may need to add a hedge, a specimen plant or an attention-grabbing piece of garden art.
