Aesthetics for the Winter Garden
"From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens: the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind's eye." - Katherine S. White
It’s March 4th and that means it’s time to celebrate the foliage, berries, bark, seedpods and seed heads that have added interest in the garden since the last of the fall foliage dropped sometime before Thanksgiving. If you haven’t enjoyed or even noticed the winter landscape this is a good time to evaluate what you can add this season to enjoy the third of the year that occurs every December to March, starting next year.
Most of the time when we think of designing a garden, we think of the colors of the flowers, texture of the foliage and the dimensions of the garden itself. When we design our gardens, we think of the garden in terms of the beauty it shows in the spring and summer and maybe in the autumn. Most give very little thought to designing our gardens for winter interest.
Many gardeners neglect thinking about winter interest simply because their perception of the garden in winter is that it is dead. As a matter of fact, your garden in the winter is merely sleeping. And like a sleeping child, the winter garden can be one that brings about feeling of peace and beauty. With a little planning and time, your garden can become something that is pleasing to look at 365 days a year.
There are even a few special plants that are willing to come out of their sleep in the middle of winter. Can you imagine colorful blooms backlit by the winter sun in February, in Connecticut? I am enjoying several witch hazels (Hamamelis) in bloom. My favorite is a cultivar called ‘Arnold Promise’, a hybrid from Arnold Arboretum in Boston. With parents originally from China and Japan it is hardy enough to be robust in our climate, yet alien to our environment to be producing bright yellow flowers about 1” long in February. Last season it bloomed for 6 weeks from mid/late February to early April, finishing before the first forsythia blooms even opened. It absolutely glows when backlit by the low winter sun, so consider a location to the south of your vantage point. As an added bonus it can also have very attractive fall yellow-orange-red foliage.
Winter is the time for evergreen trees and shrubs to take center stage. Eastern white pines and various hollies can provide much needed relief in the winter landscape. One key to success of using plants in winter is to highlight their color by insuring there is a background that provides good contrast. White or River Birches pop in the winter landscape when they are positioned in from of white pines, a combination that occurs naturally in the northeast.
A sweep of Yellow-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea') and Cardinal red-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Cardinal') will feature stunning, colorful bark on plants 5' to 7' tall that is striking in the winter landscape. A backdrop of evergreen plants provides a combination that enhances their effectiveness in the garden. Both of these dogwood selections are excellent multi-stemmed shrubs that also perform well as background plants themselves in the garden. To additional interest, Silver and Gold yellow-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Silver and Gold') has striking white and green variegated leaves in summer in addition to yellow twigs in winter.
The striking bark on many deciduous trees and shrubs goes unnoticed in summer, but it can be a focal point in the winter garden. Three perennial winners are River birch (Betula nigra), Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum), and Japanese Stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia).
One easy piece of structure you can add to your garden is ornamental grasses. In the summer, ornamental grasses add sweeping background to your other plants in your garden and provide a sense of continuity to the natural landscape. In the winter, these same grasses can take center stage. Their cream colored stalks and frothy seed heads will remind an onlooker of fountains rising up into the air.
Hydrangeas are another great source of winter interest. While some people choose to cut back a dormant hydrangea, leave yours intact, flowers and all. The faded flowers of a hydrangea look like oversize snowflakes, especially when covered with a sparkling frost. This is another plant that when backlit, the dried flowers glow like little else in the winter landscape.
Look for trees and shrubs whose fruits persist into winter; you'll not only add visual interest, you also may encourage birds and other wildlife to visit your yard. No winter landscape would be complete without the red flash of the male cardinal or a flutter of a blue jay’s wing. Planting flowers and plants that produce seed heads and berries and, more importantly, leaving these things in your winter garden, will help feed birds throughout the cold winter months. Excellent choices for persistent winter fruit include Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), and Green Hawthorne ‘Winter King’ (Crataegus viridis 'Winter King'), the last two offer attractive spring flowers.
As deciduous trees and shrubs drop their leaves, they reveal their branch structures. Plants with a columnar shape and strong vertical branches draw the eye upward, while those with more horizontal branching invite a more sweeping, panoramic view. Consider pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) for its elegant, tiered branches.
Some perennials are simply superb for providing winter interest. Stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’) maintain their structure right into spring cleanup. The ‘Atropurpurea Group’ (my favorite is ‘Brunette’) of bugbane (used to be Cimicifuga, but has been recently reclassified to Actea simplex) provides seed heads standing 6 feet all through the winter snow storms. They provide striking soft pink spires of flowers in late summer, even in shade, and have a heady scent that many (including myself) enjoy, but not everyone does. Echinacea’s left standing in the winter garden will provide seeds to native finches.
Finally, consider that the hardscapes of your garden -- which might include a fence, stone wall, trellis, or even an attractive garden shed -- also can add to winter appeal. Consider some carefully placed outdoor lighting to highlight those plants worth featuring in winter.
As you can see, there are no shortages of ideas to enliven the winter landscape. Take some time before spring arrives to look at the "bones" of your garden and see if the elements of form, texture and color are being utilized. You might be surprised that your garden is more alive in winter than you thought. At the worst, I've distracted you for a few minutes from the agony of waiting a few more weeks before you can get your fingers into the soil again!
