Winter Gardening

For most parts of the US and Canada, your gardens are put to bed for the winter.  The ground is quite cold; in fact, too frozen to plant anything and/or it is also snow covered. You have read every garden book, magazine and started following a slew of new garden blogs. Even your garden catalogs are in order. So what do you do?  Winter Gardening of course!

No, I don’t have frost on the brain. Now is the perfect time to examine your garden and see what it is lacking during the winter months. Take a look out your favorite window, perhaps by the kitchen, or dining room, living room or your desk. What do you see? Or perhaps a better question is, what do you not see? Do you have a focal point? Do you see grasses with their swaying stems?  An ornamental tree, shrub or perennial with colorful stems, berries or blooms?  Or a hardscape feature, perhaps a pond with a small heater?  Something to draw your attention and add life, movement or color to the winter garden?
In a previous blog post I suggested that you measure your garden, draw it to scale and make notes as to what is planted. Now let’s put that drawing to work! I always think I will remember everything I planted and where it is in the garden only to find myself pleasantly surprised next spring when I see plants popping their heads out; a gardener’s Christmas in May if you will.  And each winter I think I will remember all my great ideas for adding winter interest to my garden only to forget exactly what it was I wanted to add when planting season rolls around. The solution is to determine what you are missing as you look out the window right now and add in the those plants now to your design so come spring you will have a garden or landscape plan that showcases the best of both the warm and cold garden seasons.

Some of my favorite plants for adding winter interest to the garden are:
Brushed Burgundy™ Variegated Dogwood. This compact grower, at 3-4’ high and 2-3’ wide has lovely variegated foliage in the garden seasons and deep red stems that add a much needed splash of color to the winter garden.

Hydrangeas- I simply love them all. (pictured below is Sugar Cone™) They may not hold their blooms all winter and at times, winter snow will bend the branches, but even in the deepest days of winter I see their form, along a fence or flanking a garden walk and I can imagine what they will be in the spring. Their shape in the snow is great winter form.

Pink Dots™ Spot-On Snowberry™- Even the name of this little beauty can brighten a dreary winter’s day. 2.5-3’ high x 3’ wide this small very cold hardy shrub has pink berries to add a touch of color to the landscape and are loved by wildlife- bringing in birds to add the best winter interest in the garden you can ask for!

Some plants provide multi-season interest and our Always Azaleas™ fits that bill providing colorful blooms in spring, summer and fall and then evergreen foliage in winter.

For evergreens, you cannot go wrong with Golden Feather™ Thuja, 23’ tall this makes a for a fabulous backdrop or perhaps a pair marking the transition to another area of the garden. The rich, golden yellow foliage adds warmth in winter and is a safe place in which the birds can rest.

The Sweet Sisters™ Hellebores are prized for the early spring flowers, often peeking out their happy faces when there is snow on the ground, but I am drawn to the rich, glossy evergreen foliage of these beauties which is deer resistant!