How to Add Winter Interest to your Garden
As we approach the first days of winter, we do not need to say goodbye to our gardens until spring. You can strategically plant winter interest plants that shine in the colder months to create a peaceful winter wonderland.
What Is a Winter Interest Garden?
In gardening and landscaping, 'winter interest' it is a term used to describe plants that have unique eye-catching characteristics in colder months, often against a backdrop of snow. Many elements come into play to bring a dull and lifeless winter landscape to life. Below are a few of the obvious elements that add color, life and above all else beauty to a winter garden!
Evergreen Plants
The first most obvious addition to the winter interest garden is evergreen plants. While these plants are green and lustrous year-round, there is something about the juxtaposition between the cool winter sky and bare-barked trees amongst an evergreen's poignant coloring.
Vibrant Bark
While many trees and shrubs have the typical brown-grey bark coloring, there are a few unique specimen who's true time to shine is when their leaves fall and their bark is on display.
Bold Berries
Many plants will either flower or host berries in the winter. Varying in color from gold to red, these fruiting plants create a stark contrast that is impossible to miss. As an added benefit, local wildlife like birds will appreciate the seeds and berries as well!
Dried Grasses and Blooms
A Final element worth noting as a stand-out feature in the winter landscape is that of dried ornamental grasses and blooms! The tan dried plumes on grasses like Miscanthus, Northern Sea Oats, or fountain grass bring a natural and beautiful feel to a winter garden. The grasses look even more magical with a light dusting of snow!
Incorporating Winter Interest Plants Into The Landscape
The color palette for winter interest gardening often includes softer neutrals with a few pops of vivid holiday colors (rather than the greens of spring or the reds and oranges of fall). Think light browns, creams, and snow whites paired with lightly colored focal points complimented by pops of deep red berries and warm yellow and red branches.
When it comes to incorporating winter interest plants into your landscape, the opportunities are endless! You can either dedicate an area of your garden as a winter garden area, or you can incorporate these winter interest plants into your existing garden design. This way, these plants can work as background support in your landscaping for most of the year, then become the star of the show when the rest of your garden goes dormant.
Favorite Plants For Adding Color To Your Yard In Colder Months
There are so many incredible plants that will shine in one's winter landscape. Below are just a few of our favorite plants for winter, and the elements they bring to your garden. We’ll start with the low flowers and shrubs, move up to mid-sized dwarf shrubs, then tall trees to frame and draw the eye.
Hellebore
Helleborus or "Lenten Rose" are easier than ever to grow with new varieties available. They’re well known for providing beautiful and colorful flowers during the winter, and they also make wonderful plants for shade gardens as well. Fill your planters or line your garden with these winter bloom beauties.
Mediterranean White or Pink Winter Heather
Mediterranean Heather was built for the cold. Their evergreen foliage reveal the daintiest white or pink flowers that grow in mass in the later winter months. These mounding perennials are hardy to zones 6-8 and they thrive in rocky soil conditions where much else fails to grow. Winter heather is ideal for lining walkways, bordering flowerbeds, and planting in mass along the front of a mixed bed.
Winterberry Holly
There’s something magically picturesque about red berries against a snowy backdrop, and Winterberry Hollies bring just that. These mid sized shrubs provide a sea of bright red berries, attracting birds to your winter garden while looking stunning at the same time. Did we mention they’re low maintenance? Simply make sure you have a pollinator planted nearby, like Southern Gentleman holly shrubs.
Red and Yellow Twig Dogwoods
These Dogwood shrubs and are
known for their bright red or yellow stems. The rich colorful new growth is revealed after all of the autumn foliage has fallen away, so even in winter you still have beautiful layers of yellow and red available.
We recommend pruning abut ⅓ of the older stems away each year, since the new growth is what is the most colorful. In the spring, the light green leaves and petite flowers make these shrubs great for gardens all year long.
Ornamental Grasses
Ornamental grasses create winter interest regardless if they’re evergreen or not, since it’s the movement that pings life to a winter landscape. They move in the breeze, so even the dormant grasses offer something to your winter landscaping. They often fade to sift beiges, and rich brown colors, which contrast against evergreens in an interesting way. The seeds are a great food source for local birds as well.
Heritage Birch
The white young bark of a Heritage River Birch Tree is revealed when the older reddish-brown bark exfoliates away, creating a fascinating two tone textured look. This bark pings an immediately recognizable texture to the background of a winter garden.
Evergreen Hollies![close up of vibrant blue spruce foliage]()
Holly trees are another essential in winter gardens, with their shiny, pointed evergreen leaves and the quintessential red holly berries. These trees work well as a strong center focal point in a smaller garden, or as a part of a backdrop framing larger winter landscapes.
Baby Blue Spruce
If you live in a very cold grow zone, the Baby Blue Spruce is a great winter interest option for balancing out the warmer tones in the landscape. The needles on these conifers appear a soft baby blue in winter months. They’re perfect for the unique color and the soft texture their needles will bring to your garden.
Shop Winter Interest Plants Online Today!
No matter where you live, or what your style, there's no doubt that incorporating winter interest plants into your space will bring an elite level of beauty, color and elegance to your property! Shop our wide variety of winter interest plants online today and enjoy delivery directly to your doorstep!