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10 Ingredients of a Beautiful Winter Garden
Winter gardens have a beauty all their own. Enjoy its bare branches, sculptural evergreens, and more
I am a freelance editorial and wedding photographer and Houzz contributor based out of Hershey, PA. Come visit me at 'A Nest for All Seasons' where I write about design, photography and modern garden living!
I am a freelance editorial and wedding photographer and Houzz contributor... More »
Winter is the best time of year to take stock of your gardens and plan for the future. It's the time of year when gardens are laid flat, exposing their bones and allowing you to see the base of their structure. Take advantage of this time to restructure your design, order new plants or start plans for new hardscaping.
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| 1. Rock walls and paths. The chance to look at your garden in the winter allows you to see what a vital role hardscaping plays in the overall backbone of your garden. These beautiful stone walls give a classic sunken courtyard feeling to this garden, framing the views beyond. |
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| 2. Structural evergreens. Evergreens that can be pruned into distinct shapes, such as boxwood and yew, can serve the same function as hardscaping. If your garden is already blessed with hardscaping and/or structural evergreens, you are two steps ahead of the game! |
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| 3. Grasses. Remember these ornamental grasses? You would be wise to choose a few for your winter garden. When the grasses dry in autumn, they will remain tall stalwarts of the winter garden, even under a cover of snow. Simply cut them down to the ground in spring, and the display will start all over again. |
| 4. Sculpture. Adding art in the garden is another way to ensure there will be solid interest in the garden when the perennials have disappeered under the earth and flowers are a long-lost vision. |
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| 5. Fencing and furniture. Even when the climbing vines have long since died away from the fence posts, and no strollers are pausing to sit on the bench, those visions remain. Even bare, the shapes add structure to your garden all year. |
Wooden structures and deciduous trees are wonderful additions to the winter garden simply for the way the snow coats each branch, like a little vanilla frosting on each piece.
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| 6. Boulders are another option for creating a visually stimulating winter landscape. These boulders create a rugged winter garden that perfectly complements the home design. |
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| 7. Trees. Sometimes all that is left in a winter garden are large trees. Surrounding your home with these specimens provides a practical windbreak, but also provides a visual sense of enclosure. Consider planting smaller evergreens to complete the picture. |
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| When considering the winter landscape around your home, don't neglect to add both evergreen and decidous trees. Evergreens provide a bit of green in the lean months, as well as providing home for many woodland creatures. Deciduous trees can provide striking outlines in the winter snow as their trunks stretch upwards and their arms stretch outwards. Find a landscape designer |
| 8. Bushes. In this garden, large trees and smaller bushes provide a framework that does not disappear when the snows come falling down. |
9. Bark. Bushes and trees with beautiful bark, such as redtwig dogwood, river birch or sycamore trees provide a splash of color and texture in an otherwise white on white world.
See how to propagate your own redtwig dogwood hedge.
See how to propagate your own redtwig dogwood hedge.
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| 10. Blooms. Add a few winter blooming bulbs to your garden. There is nothing quite like a tiny little bloom popping up from amidst the drifts of snow. Great choices for early bloomers include chionodoxa (glory-of-the-snow), snowdrops (pictured), hellebores and the familiar crocus. |
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Whether it is grasses, evergreens, garden furniture or other additions to the garden, make sure you provide interest in the winter months. When you are gazing out your windows over a blanket of snow, you will be cheered to see your picket fence draped in a graceful wrap of snow. The sight of your pampas grass waving in the wind will remind you of summer breezes. and the bloom of a hellebore or snowdrop will remind you that spring is just around the corner.
More: Let It Snow: A Winter Postcard from the Houzz Community
Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful
Design Photography: When the Fog Rolls In
More: Let It Snow: A Winter Postcard from the Houzz Community
Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful
Design Photography: When the Fog Rolls In
Ideabook published on Jan. 23, 2012.
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One of my favorite year round plants is sarcococca - it's such a beautiful evergreen shrub (makes a great loose hedge - no pruning necessary) and right now it's in bloom, filling my garden with a wonderful scent, an added bonus this time of year!
Cool idea Marji! Checking it out now!