Beauty in the Winter Landscape

Beauty in the Winter Landscape
By Terry A Sims, APLD, Landscape Design and Horticulture 

The Garden Artist, LLC, Boise ID 

In cold climates, winter is often viewed as a season when everything shuts down, landscapes become sparse and uninteresting, and outdoor living comes to a halt. The reality is far from this belief. 

Great gardens go beyond three season beauty. Winter creates diversity and showcases elements of the landscape not seen during warmer seasons. The branches of deciduous trees with vertical interest and colored or exfoliating trunk, are now fully visible. Conifers and evergreens produce a consistent green, blue and yellow color in the gardens and some shrubs and perennials bloom during the winter. 

Consider the Coral Bark Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku’), with its brilliant color trunk and branches against a background of snow. Or Contorted Filberts (Corylus avellana ‘Harry Lauders Walking Stick’) with eye-catching ornamental appeal as golden catkins hang down under a blanket of snow that hug its contorted branches. The Washington Hawthorn (Cretaegus cordata ‘Winter King’), keeps its brilliant red berries until the birds devour them in spring. Blue Atlas Cedars (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’) when staked, have an interesting serpentine or horizontal form and Weeping White Pines (Pinus strobes ‘Pendula’) with their large cones and long soft needles add elegance to the landscape. 

Many ornamental grasses keep their plumes during winter. ‘Adagio’ Maiden Grass blooms from late summer through winter and the ‘Grassy-Leaved’ Sweet Flag (Acorus gramineus 'Minimus Aureus') with its multi-directional leaves, has dramatic yellow/green foliage throughout the seasons. ‘Ebony Night’ Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus) is an interesting cultivar with its purple-black stiff leaves and beautiful when contrasted with plants that show off its unusual color.  

 

Ground cover, such as ‘Bronze Beauty’ Carpet Bugle (Ajuga reptans 'Bronze Beauty') is coveted for its purple and green leaves that hold their color year around. 

Shrubs like the incredible ‘Forever Red’ Fringe Flower (Loropetalum chinense 'Chang Nian Hong') and Witch Hazel bloom throughout the winter. The firecracker shaped flowers of ‘Arnold’s Promise’ Witch Hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise') are yellow, and ‘Diane’ Witch Hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’) blooms peach. Burgundy leaves emerge on the broad leaf evergreen Photenia (Photinia × fraseri) which turn to green with age. The various species of Holly (Ilex spp.) with their red berries and green or variegated foliage, give the yuletide season contrasting color and texture. 

Winter Heath (Erica carnea) is a low growing perennial with very dense branches and a great display of small purple/pink flowers. The bulb Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), pokes through the snow late winter with delicate white small flowers and the intense pink shade of ‘Mardi Gras’ Lenten Rose (Helleborus 'Mardi Gras Red Shades') blooms throughout the winter. 

The plants listed above are generally Zone 5 through 8, however the reader is encouraged to do some research to determine if the plant material is suitable for the sun, wind and zone environment. 

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Terry Sims is a Landscape Designer and Horticulturist. Her company, The Garden Artist, LLC is located in Boise Idaho. For more information visit thegardenartistidaho.com