Design tips and suggestions for plants to use when planning to grow a winter garden.
Many people forget there is a fourth season for gardens: Winter. Yes, many plants do go dormant as autumn heads into winter, but this does not mean that your garden cannot be as attractive in winter as it as during other seasons of the year.
Planning a winter garden requires using plants that provide either visual interest or a food source for birds and other wildlife, or both. This is accomplished by choosing plants with interesting textures and forms, bark or branching patterns, fruits such as red berries, plants that flower in late winter or very early in spring, or evergreens that remain green all year round. Many of these same plants are assets to your garden at any time of the year
Suggested Plants for Winter Interest
Grasses
- Little bluestem: Native to the tall grass prairie, the fluffy whitish color seed tufts remain through most of the winter. It has purplish color flowers and a coppery-brown fall color.
- Big bluestem: This native grass is spiky in appearance, has nice fall color, and is useful for dried flower arrangements.
- Maiden grass "˜Silver Feather': The large whitish-color plumes of the seed tufts often last for most of the winter and attract birds.
- Yellow Foxtail: The seed tufts of this native grass are bristly resembling foxtails, and persist into the winter priding a source of food for birds.
Berries
Shrubs
- Bayberry: A semi-evergreen shrub with clusters of waxy greenish to blue-gray berries that persist all winter and are a source of food for birds.
- Winterberry holly: A small to medium-sized shrub that loves soggy soil, it has gray twigs and red berries and is the perfect plant for poorly drained soils.
- Cranberry bush viburnum: A medium-sized shrub with dark red berries that are a source of food for birds in winter. It has white flowers, good fall color, and also comes in a dwarf variety.
- Yaupon Holly: A large multi-stemmed evergreen shrub that often resembles a small tree. It has smooth gray bark when mature. The red berries remain on the plant during the winter and are a food source for birds.
Bark
Trees
- River birch: This small tree has reddish-brown to salmon colored peeling bark.
- Paperbark maple: A small single or multi-stemmed tree with cinnamon-colored curling and peeling bark.
- Striped maple: The smooth bark of this medium-sized tree is green with pale greenish-white stripes.
Shrubs
- Red-Osier dogwood: A multi-stemmed shrub with medium to dark red twigs.
- Yellow twig dogwood: A cultivar of the red-osier dogwood, it has yellow twigs instead of red ones.
- Burning bush: Also known as winged euonymus, this shrub has interesting winged bark that makes it an attractive option for the garden. It also has beautiful red foliage in the fall.
Evergreens
Trees
- American holly: This classic holly tree retains its leaves all year and has beautiful red berries that last throughout most of the winter.
- Eastern red cedar: Columnar in habit, red cedar is the perfect complement to native grasses such as little or big bluestem, and foxtail for a naturalistic look.
- Lacebark pine: This shrub-like tree has beautiful lacy bark in contrasting light and dark colors.
- Canadian hemlock: The graceful dark green boughs of the hemlock look even more beautiful when covered in snow.
Shrubs
- Catawba rhododendron: This medium-sized evergreen shrub has large, leathery dark green leaves and large showy flowers that bloom in late spring.
- Boxwood: The medium to dark green leaves of the boxwood provide a nice contrast with the whiteness of the snow. Boxwoods are usually planted as hedges or in formal gardens.
Late Winter and Early Spring Flowers
Shrubs
- Cornelian cherry: This large multi-stemmed shrub blooms in late winter or early spring. The tiny yellow flowers appear before the foliage and are quite striking against the winter sky.
- Winter hazel: A small to medium-sized shrub with clusters of fragrant flowers, pale yellow in color, it blooms in February or March, before the foliage emerges.
- Chinese witch hazel: This medium-sized shrub flowers in February or March with a blooming period that may last almost two months. The yellow flowers resemble tiny strips of ribbons and appear before the leaves.
Flowers
- Snowdrops: Peeping through the snow, snowdrops are one of the earliest bulbs to flower, usually in late February.
- Crocus: Nothing signals the end of winter like the first sighting of crocus flowers, which typically bloom in late February or early March.
Design Tips
1. Ornamental and native grasses lend texture, form, and color to a winter garden. For maximum impact and a naturalistic look, plant grasses of the same species together in large groups.
2. Shrubs and trees that produce berries such as bayberry, winterberry holly, and American holly should be planted in groups to ensure there are both male and female plants to produce berries.
3. Group odd numbers of plants together in threes or fives for a more naturalistic appearance. Groups also attract birds and other wildlife and will have more visual impact against a backdrop of white snow or evergreens.
4. Use an evergreen hedge as a backdrop for grasses. The dark green color will contrast nicely with the golden brown winter colors of the grasses.
5. Use trees with interesting bark textures, either alone or in clumps of three, as a focal point to take advantage of the beautiful bark that is hidden much of the year by foliage.
6. Plant trees and shrubs where they will be bathed in early morning or late afternoon to illuminate special features such as curling or lacy bark patterns or ice encrusted berries that sparkle in the sunlight.
7. Plant rhododendrons where you can see the leaves from the house. When temperatures fall below freezing, the leaves droop and curl under giving a rough indication of how cold it is outside.
