Winter Garden Ideas - Grow A Stunning Garden Even In The Snow

Watching the fall leaves drop and our tender plants die is made easier with some winter garden ideas. Planning ahead and planting hardy plants will ensure there is still a bit of color in the landscape even as we huddle by the fire. Ideas for winter garden interest may start with plant selection but should also include other aspects such as bird feeders and lighting. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy some living spectacles outside your windows.

Vertical Appeal

Trees and bushes can be an incredibly important part of the cold-season garden. Selecting plants with interesting bark, berries, or colorful stems is a great way to liven up the landscape.

• Red or Yellow Twig Dogwood: Once the leaves drop off these bushes a bright display is revealed. Bright red or canary yellow stems pop out of the plant. Dogwoods are brightest when young and develop even more color in late winter.
• Crape Myrtle: This tree not only has amazing blooms during the growing season but also provides textural vision after its leaves drop. The bark exfoliates, revealing a gorgeous two-tone aspect.
• River Birch: This tree has shaggy, curled bark. The bark curves and crinkles around the trunk.
• Evergreens: Any evergreen that is suited to your zone will provide comforting greenery in the winter. The deodar cedar is one of my favorites due to its graceful, swaying branches.
• Lacebark Elm: This is a very adaptable tree with excellent winter hardiness. The bark is mottled in shades of green, gray, orange, and brown.

Winter Garden Pot Ideas

Winter garden ideas don’t have to be big to have an impact. Just decorating by your front door can result in a cheery, homey display. Brightly colored containers with flowers and complementing foliage don’t have to cost much and can really keep a sense of the warm season near your home.

Select plants like ornamental kales and cabbages. The rippled leaves have appeal all their own but there are also varieties in many colors. These are very hardy and the cold weather actually brings out the colors. In addition to variegated and green tones, there are pink, mauve, and purple. Flank these foliage plants with pansies and violas to add floral emphasis. Tuck in bulbs like crocus and snowdrops that will appear later in the season as the other plants begin to fail.

Winter Flower Garden Ideas

Many of our common perennials make excellent focal points in the garden even after they are not actively growing. Plants with seed heads or those with flowers that remain in the cold season give the eye a place to land with pleasure. Larger stonecrops produce masses of starry flowers in summer which fade and eventually turn tan. These will persist for months on the plant.

Plants that flower in late winter like Camellia further brighten the later months of the season. Witch Hazel, which forms a small tree or bush, blooms late in winter with fringed flowers in hues of yellow to orange-red that fill the air with fragrance.

Berry Beauty

American holly is a classic winter pop of color. Its fiery red berries bring a cheerful note to the winter landscape. Pyracantha puts on a dazzling fall foliage display but it also has umbrella-like clusters of red berries. Beautyberry is unmatched with its fat clusters of purple berries.

You might also have Chokeberry, Bayberry, Winterberry, and many others. While they brighten the garden they have an added bonus. They will entice birds and wildlife into your garden.

Ornamental Grasses and Seed Heads in Winter

Many of our most common ornamental grasses produce plumes of inflorescences. These dry naturally at the end of the season and provide movement in the cold landscape. Japanese Sedge is an evergreen grass that will retain its color through winter. The seed pods of coneflower are a textural wonder, while the staghorn sumac retains its deep red seed heads.

Instead of cutting your perennials back at the end of the season, let the seed heads persist. They are interesting and an important food source for wild birds.