Northern
gardeners cram a great deal of cultivation into perhaps five months of the year.
The harsh reality, though, is that winter is the longest season for our
landscapes.
Northern
gardeners cram a great deal of cultivation into perhaps five months of the year.
The harsh reality, though, is that winter is the longest season for our
landscapes.
Now that we have a nice blanket of snow, take a few moments to assess your yard for winter interest. Does snow cling to evergreen branches? Do seed heads from ornamental grasses and last year’s flowers dance in the wind? Do cedar waxwings swoop in for a cocktail of fermented berries from your trees or shrubs?
If you are lucky enough to have stately spruces or pines in view, you’ve enjoyed splendid snowy scenes in recent weeks. With or without snow, winter is a good time to examine your yard’s framework and make note of where to add plants or other features for four-season interest. Consider these year-round features:
In summer, when my husband and I are scrounging for more
gardening space, we talk about removing our arborvitae hedge. In winter, we’re
glad we haven’t pulled out this splash of color that is a shelter for wildlife.
When the landscape looks like a black and white movie, count on conifers to colorize your world. These cone-bearing evergreens have needles and come in all sizes, shapes and colors. Yes, colors. Consider the popular Colorado blue spruce, the gold thread-leaf Sawara cypress, the orange golden eastern arborvitae. Pines and junipers boast a paint-store palette of greens, plus shades of blue, yellow and hints of red. With some, the color varies by season. With all, the color lasts year-long.
Some broadleaf plants also are evergreens. Boxwoods, hollies, rhododendrons and wintercreeper (Euonymus) are options for color through winter.
Even though they shed their leaves, many deciduous trees and
shrubs hold winter interest with bark and berries. Peeling white bark of birch
trees brightens the bare bones of late fall and early spring. Red stems of Redosier, Tatarian and gray dogwoods provide striking contrast.
Climbing hydrangea, a woody vine, also has a rich mahogany colored bark that flakes as it matures. Many willows have lovely yellow-brown, red or orange stems, while pussy willows produce fuzzy silver catkins in early spring.
When trees are bare, bark stands out. Consider the deeply cut bark of oaks and white ash, the dark, flaky bark of sugar maples and the tall, dark bark of white pine.
Several
shrubs hold their dried flowers and berries long after leaves have dropped.
Sumac is a colorful choice for fall color, topped with deep red fruit clusters
that persist through winter. Be prepared for it to spread by suckers, though.
Summersweet (Clethra), a fragrant late-summer bloomer, attracts butterflies in summer and birds to interesting seed heads in winter. Several varieties of winterberry (Euonymus) produce exceptional fall fruit displays. Viburnums, notably the American highbush cranberry, offer four-season interest with stunning spring flowers and colorful berries that may persist into winter.
Many
perennials and annual flowers sport seed heads that
add texture and form well worth winter viewing. Some,
like purple coneflowers (Echinacea) and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia),
also provide feed for birds. You may not design your perennial
bed based on what it looks like in winter. But if you grow them, consider
waiting until spring to cut back flowers with large, flat seed heads like those
on of yarrow (Achillea) 'Coronation Gold' and Sedum
spectabile 'Autumn Joy.' Ornamental onion (Allium)
and globe thistle (Echinops ritro) have
interesting dry, spherical flowers. Even though the plants die back,
plumes of astilbe and snakeroot (Cimicifuga) provide bold seed head
spikes through winter.
Perennials that remain evergreen include European ginger and vinca, both which have dark shiny foliage. Broad leaves of pigsqueak (Bergenia cordifolia) turn purple in fall and remain showy through winter.
Grasses provide a terrific vertical element in summer, and
they take center stage in fall and winter. Grasses offer structure, style and
movement in the landscape. Not all are hardy in our area, so be sure you’re
buying for zone 4.
Grasses vary in height, color and plume. Good choices in the 4- to 6-foot range are feather reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora “Karl Foerster”), Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' and 'Silberfeder,' fine textured maiden grass 'Gracillimus,' porcupine grass 'Strictus' and 'Purpurascens,' a showy purple maiden grass.
In the 2- to 3-foot category, several native grasses are worthwhile: northern sea oats, little bluestem, prairie dropseed and switch grass.
Beyond plants, your landscape may include any number of constructed elements.
A stone wall, fence, brick path, arbor, seating areas, obelisk and trellis are
examples of hardscape. They are focal points in summer that take on an added
dimension in winter. The staff of Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, stored
benches indoors during the winter until discovering “they look good in snow,”
Horticulture Director Jeff Epping noted at a seminar a while ago.
Birdhouses and feeders attract birds and provide life to your winter landscape. They, too, look good blanketed in snow. As long as they can withstand the temperatures, why not let your favorite garden art brighten your view? A little snow never hurt a pair of plastic flamingos.
– Nick Schultz, Portage Co. MG
