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

practice bundling up and walk through your wintertime garden , and what do you see ? Is it filled with quiet beauty from structural silhouettes , colourful stem turn , textural bark , late - bloom flower , and the commotion of activity from hungry razzing and moth-eaten - audacious pollinator ? Or is it a wintertime barren — a barren , beige landscape devoid of color and visual stake , causing one to hasten back within to dream about outpouring ’s garden .

The winter time of year is a prosperous chance to take a closelipped flavour at your garden . particularly late winter , when every last foliage has fall from deciduous plants and the garden is stripped unornamented , with no distraction from colorful flowers and foliage .

So , before your garden begin to take a hop back into action , go alfresco and take a good hard looking at it . If you ’re not felicitous with what you see , below are some wide-eyed strategy that will transform your bleak winter garden into a seasonal visual feast .

PLANTS WITH STRUCTURE AND FORM

A simple winter garden is like an XTC - ray that points out problems resulting from a lack of structure and shape . Both evergreen plant and deciduous plant can often be source of structure and are often referred to as the ‘ bones of the garden ’ . Without these ‘ bones ’ to hold thing together , the garden fall flavorless in the cold months .

environ by snow , evergreen plant and deciduous plant can still allow plenty of visual and structural interest . Photo by : Sergey Denisenko / Shutterstock .

Hardy evergreens and sub-shrubs.

evergreen and zep - shrub not only have the strength to stand up to weighed down snow , but interesting forms are further accentuated when covered with a dusting of clean , tot ocular interest to the garden . example include evergreenPicea pungens‘Montgomery ' , columniform boxwood ( Buxus sempervirens’Graham Blandy ' ) , and the roundedPittosporum tenuifolium‘Golfball ’ ( Kohuhu ) ; or evergreen sub - shrubs like heaths and heather ( CallunaandEricavarieties ) , Vinca minor spurge ( Euphorbia myrsinites ) , or Russian sage ( Perovskia . )

The evergreen dark spruce and golden breath of heaven add color and construction to this February garden . exposure by : Rebecca Sweet .

Deciduous plants.

In increase to evergreen , do n’t forget the valuable theoretical account provide by deciduous plants . During the wintertime calendar month , the shapes of many inactive plants now take center leg , with some , in fact , really looking their best . Just imagine the alone , twisting , or draping character of a dormant Japanese maple that provides a quiet beauty to the winter garden . Other plants with unusual shapes when dormant admit the weeping white mulberry ( Morus alba‘Pendula ’ ) or upright , wavy offshoot of the European beech tree ( Fagus sylvatica‘Dawyck Purple ’ ) .

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

NON-LIVING SOURCES OF STRUCTURE AND FORM

Non - surviving sources of structure cater garden pursuit year - round , but their structure is most appreciated during the quiet winter months when the garden is fast numb . Whether formal in style ( like a tower tuteur or obelisk ) or informal ( a rustic Great Pyramid or treillage made of branch ) , these structures add together much - needed height during the desolate wintertime months .

Vegetable bottom are notorious for depend bleak in the wintertime . Freeland and Sabrina Tanner have solved this problem by adding towering tuteurs . Tanner Garden . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

LATE WINTER DRIED FLOWERS AND SEED HEADS

Do n’t be so quick to turn over for the pruning hook to cut back spent prime and seed head . They ’re not only valuable sources of protection and energy for pollinators and fowl , but they ’re also indispensable for late - time of year stunner . Flowers and source heads with sturdier shapes can easily bear up through previous wintertime , leave month of structure and beauty . Examples include the worn out bloom from many hydrangea ( oakleaf and panicle varieties are sturdiest ) , the wispy inflorescence of cosmetic pasture ( such asCalamagrostis , Panicum , orMiscanthus ) , or the seminal fluid heads of perennials such as Jerusalem salvia ( Phlomis ) , coneflower ( Echinacea ) , or Joe Pye weed ( Eutrochium maculatum ) .

The late - winter seed heads of the rose of Sharon ( Hibiscus syriacus ) provide structure and nutrition for hungry birds . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

COLORFUL STEMS

cold-blooded temperatures can metamorphose the stems and branches of many deciduous shrubs into bursts of magnificent color , lighting up the winter landscape painting . The good example can often be found on the previous year ’s growth of the brilliant yellowish stems of chickenhearted sprig dogwood ( Cornus sanguinea‘Flaviramea ’ ) or the cerise stems of the cherry willow ( Salix albasubsp.vitellina‘Britzensis ' ) .

For those who garden in fond climates with limited winter iciness , options include the Japanese maple ‘ Sango - kaku ’ or ruddy twig cornel ( Cornus sericea ) .

Cold temperature catch fire the branch ofCornus snaguinea’Midwinter Fire ’ , adding shades of yellow and orangish to the gray winter landscape painting . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

TEXTURAL TREE BARK

grain is vital in the wintertime landscape painting , taking heart and soul stage when little else offer visual interest . This is specially true in insensate climates with heavy snowfall . Tree bark can be an first-class origin of grain , provide drastic line ( and visual relief ) against the seemingly endless sea of Charles Percy Snow . Examples include the paperbark maple ( Acer griseum ) , red birch ( Betula albosinensis‘Red Panda ’ ) , or the Himalayan birch rod ( Betula jackmanii ) .

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

WINTER BERRIES

For nurseryman craving gloss during the moth-eaten and showery month , wintertime Berry are a visual banquet for the optic . But , more significantly , Charles Edward Berry are a genuine feast for hungry , migrating birds . berry are valuable resources of energy , filled with pelf and fat , which aid birds hold out freeze temperatures and hold up them throughout the winter . example let in mountain hawthorn ( Crataegus pinnatifida ) , wintergreen ( Gaultheria procumbens ) , snowberry ( Symphoricarpos‘Proud Berry ’ or ‘ Charming Fantasy ’ ) , and toyon ( Heteromeles arbutifolia ) .

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

LATE-WINTER SCENT

Many gardeners forget to include aroma in the late wintertime garden , take it ’s all but impossible to accomplish . However , there are several sources of heavenly fragrance during the cold months , which add an unexpected ( and delicious ) layer to the wintertime garden . Examples include witch hazel ( Hamamelis‘Pallida ’ is extra fragrant ) , sweet-flavored box ( Sarcococca confusa ) , paper bush ( Edgeworthia chrysantha),Daphne(‘Perfume Princess ’ is extra fragrant ) , wintersweet ( Chimonanthus praecox ) , or wintertime - bloom honeysuckle ( Lonicera fragrantissimaandL. purpusii ) to name just a few .

The small but mighty flowers of sweetbox ( Sarcococca confusa ) load down a celestial punch with fragrant late - wintertime smell . picture by : Rebecca Sweet .

LATE-WINTER FLOWERS

While hold back for the sleeping garden to wake , do n’t blank out to includewinter flowersthat smoothen and add a fiddling coruscation to the garden during the transitional time between tardy wintertime and early spring . These coloured bungle delight both gardeners and pollinators — who are dire for late winter generator of ambrosia . Examples includeCyclamen coum , Lenten rose ( Helleborusspp . ) , manzanita ( Arctostaphylosspp . ) , heath and heathers ( EricaandCalluna ) , quince shrubs ( Chaenomeles speciosa ) , silk tassle bush ( Garryaxissaquahensis ) , and many belated - winter blooming bulbs .

The flushed , yellow , and orange flowers of beldame hazel tree are the independent attractiveness of this wintertime garden , providing both color and scent . Washington Park Arboretum . Photo by : Rebecca Sweet .

ART IN THE GARDEN

It give-up the ghost without saying that including art in the garden is a fantastic way to include structure and stake throughout the entire year . Art adds personality to the garden , and when used to enhance the surrounding plants ( whether evergreen or dormant ) can elevate the wintertime garden from mediocre to magnificent .

The vibrant cerise urn , made from garden tools by Freeland Tanner , strike brightest on a stale belated - winter day . Tanner garden . picture by : Rebecca Sweet .

BOOK REBECCA AS YOUR NEXT GARDEN SPEAKER!

Fun , passionate , and knowledgeable , three words that line Rebecca Sweet!See what discussion subject are available and look on a myopic videoas Rebecca explains how her talk of the town will inspire , entertain , and educate gardeners at all science levels .