Walking in a Winter Wonder-garden

Do's and Don't's of creating a winter garden

With frosty nights killing off fall blooms, it’s time to consider your winter garden. Winter…what? Yes! You can enjoy an amazing garden in winter, as long as you focus on these five elements:

• Evergreens. Whether planted in the ground or glazed pots, perennials with vibrant green needles or leaves have their moments in a stark winter landscape. Consider conifers for statement hedges, and dwarf shrubs—like a mugo pine—for decks or patios. And…you can decorate them for the holidays!
• Winter berries. Thrill to pops of color with trees—think hollies—and shrubs with persistent fruit in reds, oranges, purples, and pinks. Consider winterberry, beautyberry, checkerberry/boxberry, euonymus, viburnum, laurels, firethorn—the list is long! Bonus: The birds will thank you for the seasonal treats.
• Winter-blooming perennials. Just when you think you’ll never survive another trek through frozen slush, out pop the delightful blooms of camellias, hellebores, and Persian violets. Your heart lifts! And if you’ve never seen a snowdrop or winter iris push its way through sleet, you need to!
• Iron sculptures. Ice- or snow-covered metal takes on dramatic flair in winter. Consider powder-coated obelisks, cloches, and rustic flowers strategically placed to reflect both the sun and moon.
• Statues. Made of durable concrete or stone, Romanesque figures steal the show when the foliage drops. Whether dusted with snow or ice, statues look regal and old-world…and completely unbothered by the weather. 
  
  

While you’re planning winter garden beauty, avoid overdoing some things, including:

• Too much cutting back. You can leave ornamental grasses, dried hydrangea blooms, rose hips, and sedums for winter interest—especially for dustings of snow and ice. When you cut back EVERYTHING, your landscape looks barren and severe. We’re aiming for interesting and dramatic.
• Ornamentation. Too many twirling, swirling, colorful metal pieces can look ostentatious—even cartoonish—in the barren winter landscape. Store those away until summer leaves help them blend into your garden’s foliage.
• Cardboard under mulch. While corrugated pulp/container board seems an easy winter solution to blocking weeds and killing grass—no digging or scraping!—it’s never a good idea for soil life. It blocks moisture and oxygen…and nutrients. The natural pine mulch you pile on top of it is wasted conditioning, and will probably slide off or bunch up. Just put in the sweat equity—hand clear the area, scatter a pre-emergent, and mulch.
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A stunning winter garden takes time—sometimes years—to develop. But with a few changes each season, you’ll enjoy a show-stopping view, in your slippers and sweaters, outside any window.