Garden Design IdeasGarden Ideas, Photos and Tips for Gardening at Home

Bundle up and take the air through your wintertime garden , and what do you see ? Is it satisfy with placid beauty from geomorphological silhouettes , colorful theme , textural bark , late - flower flowers , and the commotion of activity from athirst birds and cold - hardy pollinators ? Or is it a winter wasteland — a wasteland , beige landscape painting free of colour and optical interest , causing one to race back inside to dream about spring ’s garden .

The winter season is a lucky opportunity to take a closer look at your garden . Especially late winter , when every last leaf has fall from deciduous plants and the garden is divest desolate , with no distractions from colorful flowers and foliage .

So , before your garden begins to spring back into activeness , go out of doors and take a good tough aspect at it . If you ’re not happy with what you see , below are some simple strategies that will transmute your dim wintertime garden into a seasonal optic banquet .

PLANTS WITH STRUCTURE AND FORM

A spare winter garden is like an disco biscuit - shaft that betoken out trouble resulting from a lack of structure and cast . Both evergreen and deciduous plant can often be author of anatomical structure and are often referred to as the ‘ pearl of the garden ’ . Without these ‘ bones ’ to hold things together , the garden falls flat in the colder month .

palisade by Baron Snow of Leicester , evergreen plant and deciduous plant can still allow for plenty of optical and structural interest group . picture by : Sergey Denisenko / Shutterstock .

Hardy evergreens and sub-shrubs.

evergreen plant and sub - shrub not only have the strength to stand up to heavy snowfall , but interesting forms are further accentuated when compensate with a dusting of white , adding visual interestingness to the garden . illustration admit evergreenPicea pungens‘Montgomery ' , columnar boxwood ( Buxus sempervirens’Graham Blandy ' ) , and the roundedPittosporum tenuifolium‘Golfball ’ ( Kohuhu ) ; or evergreen hero - bush like heaths and heathers ( CallunaandEricavarieties ) , Vinca minor spurge ( Euphorbia myrsinites ) , or Russian salvia ( Perovskia . )

The evergreen risque spruce and gold breath of heaven add together people of color and structure to this February garden . pic by : Rebecca Sweet .

Deciduous plants.

In addition to evergreen , do n’t forget the valuable framework provide by deciduous plants . During the winter month , the form of many dormant plants now take halfway stage , with some , in fact , in reality looking their full . Just conceive of the unique , spin , or cloak lineament of a torpid Japanese maple that provides a quiet beauty to the winter garden . Other plants with strange shapes when dormant admit the weeping white mulberry ( Morus alba‘Pendula ’ ) or upright , crinkled branches of the European beechwood tree ( Fagus sylvatica‘Dawyck Purple ’ ) .

The twisting form of this dormant Japanese maple is just as beautiful in the winter as it is with summertime foliage . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

NON-LIVING SOURCES OF STRUCTURE AND FORM

Non - living beginning of construction provide garden interest group class - round , but their complex body part is most appreciated during the hushed winter months when the garden is tight departed . Whether formal in style ( like a towering tuteur or obelisk ) or informal ( a hick Great Pyramid or trellis made of branches ) , these structure add much - needed height during the mere wintertime months .

veggie beds are infamous for looking bleak in the wintertime . Freeland and Sabrina Tanner have solved this job by adding loom tuteurs . Tanner Garden . exposure by : Rebecca Sweet .

LATE WINTER DRIED FLOWERS AND SEED HEADS

Do n’t be so quick to attain for the pruners to geld back spent flowers and seed heads . They ’re not only worthful sources of protection and energy for pollinators and bird , but they ’re also indispensable for former - time of year smasher . flower and seed heads with sturdy anatomy can easy adjudge up through tardy wintertime , providing months of structure and smasher . example include the spent bloom from many hydrangeas ( oakleaf and panicle miscellanea are sturdiest ) , the faint inflorescence of ornamental green goddess ( such asCalamagrostis , Panicum , orMiscanthus ) , or the seeded player heads of perennials such as Jerusalem sage ( Phlomis ) , coneflower ( Echinacea ) , or Joe Pye locoweed ( Eutrochium maculatum ) .

The tardy - wintertime seed heads of the rose of Sharon ( Hibiscus syriacus ) furnish structure and nourishment for hungry birds . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

COLORFUL STEMS

Colder temperatures can transform the fore and offshoot of many deciduous shrub into bursts of magnificent color , unhorse up the wintertime landscape painting . The near examples can often be found on the old year ’s growth of the bright yellow-bellied stems of chickenhearted twig dogwood tree ( Cornus sanguinea‘Flaviramea ’ ) or the red stems of the scarlet willow ( Salix albasubsp.vitellina‘Britzensis ' ) .

For those who garden in quick mood with limited winter shudder , options include the Nipponese maple ‘ Sango - kaku ’ or reddish twig cornel ( genus Cornus sericea ) .

Cold temperatures stir up the branches ofCornus snaguinea’Midwinter Fire ’ , add shades of yellow and orange to the gray wintertime landscape painting . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

TEXTURAL TREE BARK

Texture is vital in the winter landscape , take nitty-gritty stage when minuscule else provides ocular involvement . This is especially true in moth-eaten clime with sullen snowfall . tree diagram barque can be an first-class germ of texture , ply drastic demarcation ( and ocular backup ) against the ostensibly endless ocean of C . instance let in the paperbark maple ( Acer griseum ) , red birch ( Betula albosinensis‘Red Panda ’ ) , or the Himalayan birch ( Betula jackmanii ) .

Which is more magnificent : the mahogany - color bark of the paperbark maple ( Acer griseum ) or its curling , peeling winter barque ? Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

WINTER BERRIES

For gardeners craving color during the inhuman and showery months , wintertime berries are a visual feast for the heart . But , more significantly , berries are a actual feast for thirsty , migrating birds . Charles Edward Berry are valuable imagination of energy , filled with sugar and fat , which help birds hold up suspend temperature and keep up them throughout the winter . exercise include lot haw ( Crataegus pinnatifida ) , wintergreen ( Gaultheria procumbens ) , snowberry ( Symphoricarpos‘Proud Berry ’ or ‘ Charming Fantasy ’ ) , and toyon ( Heteromeles arbutifolia ) .

A chilly grouse feasts on the fruit of the winter huckleberry ( Vaccinium ovatum ) . exposure by : Rebecca Sweet .

LATE-WINTER SCENT

Many gardeners bury to include fragrance in the former wintertime garden , take it ’s all but out of the question to achieve . However , there are several sources of heavenly fragrance during the inhuman month , which add an unexpected ( and delicious ) layer to the wintertime garden . example include witch hazel ( Hamamelis‘Pallida ’ is extra fragrant ) , sweet box ( Sarcococca confusa ) , paper bush ( Edgeworthia chrysantha),Daphne(‘Perfume Princess ’ is extra fragrant ) , wintersweet ( Chimonanthus praecox ) , or wintertime - blossom honeysuckle ( Lonicera fragrantissimaandL. purpusii ) to name just a few .

The small but mighty flowers of sweetbox ( Sarcococca confusa ) pack a celestial biff with fragrant later - winter scent . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

LATE-WINTER FLOWERS

While waiting for the dormant garden to ignite , do n’t forget to includewinter flowersthat shine and contribute a little sparkle to the garden during the transitional time between late winter and other spring . These colorful boo-boo delight both nurseryman and pollinator — who are dire for late winter source of nectar . Examples includeCyclamen coum , Lenten rose ( Helleborusspp . ) , madrono ( Arctostaphylosspp . ) , heath and heathers ( EricaandCalluna ) , quince shrubs ( genus Chaenomeles speciosa ) , silk tassle bush ( Garryaxissaquahensis ) , and many tardy - winter blooming bulb .

The red , yellow , and orange flowers of witch Pomaderris apetala are the master attraction of this wintertime garden , providing both vividness and perfume . Washington Park Arboretum . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

ART IN THE GARDEN

It goes without saying that including art in the garden is a fantastic way to let in structure and interest throughout the entire yr . Art add together personality to the garden , and when used to enhance the surrounding plants ( whether evergreen or abeyant ) can upgrade the winter garden from mediocre to magnificent .

The vibrant cherry urn , made from garden tool by Freeland Tanner , shine brightest on a cold recent - winter day . Tanner garden . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

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