Winter Interest in the Garden

After the exuberance of summer flowers and the spectacular color of autumn leaves, gardeners may feel a little sad with the approach of winter. Don’t despair; with a little planning, your winter garden can be a place of beauty. Though more subtle, the sights in the garden in winter can be very captivating. Winter interest can be accomplished with plants, of course, but also with other elements.

Let’s review some of these in detail. There are a surprisingly large number of plants that actually look better in winter than in summer. Evergreens look good year round, but may be more prominent in the winter landscape. Plant characteristics to consider in your selections include:

1. Evergreen foliage
2. Berries, pods, seed heads, and fruit
3. Winter blooms
4. Textural contrasts
5. Fragrance
6. Color, other than in flowers

Examples of plants with these characteristics:

1. Evergreen foliage:

Evergreen shrubs are usually planted as foundation plants near the house, and used for screens and accent plants in other parts of the garden. They can be considered the “bones” of the garden. Boxwoods and hollies are widely used.

Glossy abelia has small oval leaves that turn bronzy purple in winter.

The Southern magnolia is a staple in the Southern garden. Its large dark green, glossy leaves with their undercoat of bronze are beautiful in the landscape and when used in decorations for the home.

The Century Plant, native to southern Arizona, is a stunning and exotic looking plant that will reach 2 feet or more in diameter. Plant in a protected area and enjoy year round. Yuccas, with all green or variegated sword-shaped leaves can provide an architectural element.

‘Otto Luykin’ Laurels grow 4 feet tall and 5 to 7 feet wide and have glossy, dark green leaves.

Mahonia is a large evergreen shrub that will grow in shade.

Pines, cedars, arborvitaes, yews, junipers, and spruces are evergreen conifers that add texture and beauty.

Rosemary is an evergreen shrub with beautiful green, aromatic leaves that are long and thin. Rosemary is an herb used in cooking but it is interesting in the winter garden.

Autumn fern and tassel fern are evergreen. Italian arum is a standout with its 1-foot-high arrow-shaped leaves with yellow-green veining. The leaves disappear in spring and summer.

Also, ground covers such as pachysandra, lamb’s ears, creeping periwinkle or vinca maintain their leaves during winter.

2. Berries, pods and cones, seed heads, and fruits:

Red berries on deciduous hollies stand out in the winter landscape. Many evergreen hollies have berries in red, yellow and black.

Old fashioned nandinas have dramatic long clusters of berries that turn from green to red or yellow and remain on the plant through the winter.

You, as well as the birds, will enjoy the berries of poet’s laurel, barberry, cotoneaster, pyracantha, Jerusalem cherry, dogwood, viburnum, Mondo- grass and Monkey-grass, the blue berries of red cedar and bayberry, and the brilliant purple of beautyberry.

The pods of the Carolina silverbell, Chinese parasol tree, redbud, golden rain tree, Siberian iris, and false indigo are lovely in the garden or in dried flower arrangements. Cones of conifers ‘decorate’ these trees and shrubs.

Seed heads of oakleaf hydrangea and other hydrangeas last into winter and look especially beautiful when covered with frost, snow, or ice.

Ornamental grasses with their tan seed heads or pods and foliage add beauty to the winter garden. The spring blossoms of Flowering Crabapple turn into bright red fruit in autumn and will last into winter. Rose hips make rose bushes pretty even in winter.

3. Winter blooms:

By selecting early blooming bulbs or corms of narcissus, daffodils, iris, grape hyacinth, cyclamen, and crocus you can have blooms from January to late spring.

Hellebores are 1-foot tall evergreen perennials with large, glossy green leaves and delicate looking flowers in shades of pink, white, and green. They begin blooming in January and persist until late spring. They prefer a shady location. Perennial candytuft blooms off and on all winter. Some species of primroses bloom in winter.

Viola and pansies are dependable annuals that bloom through the winter and until hot weather begins.

Witch hazels, flowering quince, winter jasmine, mahonias, pieris, pussy willow, and flowering apricots bloom during the winter months.

Evergreen camellias wait until winter or very early spring to put on their showy flowers.

4. Textural contrasts:

The exfoliating bark of many trees and shrubs is unusual and beautiful. The outer bark naturally peels away to reveal bark that can be white, green, gray, and many shades of brown. They include: Plane tree, crape myrtle (especially ‘Natchez’ with its rich cinnamon under-bark), lacebark elm, river birch, and oakleaf hydrangea.

5. Fragrance:

The winter-blooming honeysuckle bush, daphnes, winter hazels, witch hazels, sweet box, hybrids of burkwood viburnum, native sweetshrub, sasanquas and camellias, American osmanthus or wild olive, and small, old-fashioned hyacinths perfume the air in winter.

6. Color:

The bare stems of red twig dogwood shrubs are bright red or yellow in winter, the coral bark Japanese maple has an outstanding color stem, and the stems of winter jasmine and kerria are green throughout the winter.

For added color, select conifers with blue-green or yellow-green needles.


Besides plants, other garden elements can make the garden visually pleasing in winter.

Garden ornaments and sculpture: Sundials, benches, fences, walls, trellises, and paving patterns in walkways and drives certainly add interest and are more noticeable when there are fewer competing blossoms.

Living sculpture: Without leaves, the interesting shapes of the contorted branches of the Harry Lauder’s walking stick and corkscrew willow are standouts. Weeping forms of trees are beautiful silhouetted against a wall or the sky. Tiny white lights added to these plants look lovely during the holidays.

Water: In the winter, garden ponds, streams, fountains, and even birdbaths can be enchanting. The frozen and snow covered water features take on a completely different look.

Lighting: With the longer nights of winter, lighting can be a very good way to add drama. Strategically placed lighting on a small number of interesting trees, shrubs, or grasses is magical in winter. Use low-voltage landscape lighting for safety.

Wildlife: Provide food and water and you will be rewarded with colorful birds coming to dine at your window. Their song and flights, as well as fights to reach the feeder, can be fascinating! If you have a large enough lot, you can attract other wildlife, as well.

Sounds and movement: Wind chimes and the rustling of the wind in trees or ornamental grasses will provide garden music. The sight of plants swaying in the wind adds movement.

Be on the lookout for these and other plants and elements that will add interest. Enjoy the winter garden!

posted on 11/27/07