While perennials, annuals, bulbs, and a variety of deciduous trees enhance your landscape, once winter comes, most of these are gone. This can leave a very stark garden. The solution is to grow an evergreen garden. Gardening with evergreens will still give you variety but also is a year-round solution to a barren landscape.
Evergreen Garden Design
A garden without evergreens can present as a very desolate place in winter. Evergreen garden design will prevent that bare appearance and give plenty of dimension and diversity of form. There are so many evergreens from which to choose, including many unique cultivars. A few evergreen garden ideas can get you started on developing a well-rounded landscape with plenty of color all year.
While fall can be a time of great color and beauty, it also signals the beginning of a desolate winter, practically devoid of plant life. Landscaping with evergreens can prevent that stark appearance. With many different sizes, there are perfect diminutive shrub specimens as well as soaring evergreen trees.
Plan out the area before you purchase and make sure your soil is in good shape and well-draining. Evergreens are perfect for beds, borders, hedges, and as standalone plants. Sketch out your vision. It may be an informal setting, an elegant formal garden, or just a privacy hedge. Also, consider mature size as larger trees can be difficult to move if they get too tall.
How to Grow an Evergreen Garden
One of the classic evergreen garden ideas that has stood the test of time combines evergreens with perennials, herbs, and other plants. An English garden is a good example where you might see sculpted yew or boxwood hedges surrounding carefully crafted beds of flowers and other smaller plants.
There are also many that make appealing container plants such as camellia, smaller juniper species, boxwood, yew, some hollies (like Sky Pencil), and more. Use taller plants like Italian cypress to make an elegant statement along the drive or laurel to make an attractive, sheared border.
Benefits of Gardening with Evergreens
Landscaping with evergreens provides privacy, long-lasting color, and dimension but also forms a windbreak and can help reduce heating and cooling costs. Evergreens can hide the foundation, produce an effective groundcover, set off an outdoor living space, and more. The variety of shapes serves to capture the eye and enhance beds that have been denuded of other plants during winter.
Consider what evergreen plants will look like in winter. There are domed arborvitae, tangled and charming heather, and pyramid shaped Alberta spruce. You might also like spring bloomers like rhododendron or mountain laurel. The options are practically endless, and you will end up with a sea of texture, even in winter.