Landscaping for Winter Appeal

Some people may ask, "Why plan a landscape for winter pleasure? Everything is covered with snow and it's too cold to go outside and enjoy it."

My response is, "Why not?" Landscapes are for our enjoyment year round. Besides, you would be surprised how pretty and unusual the yard can look in the winter with proper planning.

A winter landscape requires a bit more ingenuity and planning because there are fewer elements available to make a landscape statement. By combining multiple kinds of evergreens, berry bearing plants, different bark colors and textures, you can create a visually exciting view.

There are two types of evergreens from which to choose. Broadleaf evergreens have leaves like deciduous trees such as maples. But they don't fall off in the winter. Rhododendrons, the holly-like leafed mahonia, and groundcovers like ivy are all broadleaf evergreens.

Narrowleaf evergreens are what you generally think of when you hear the word evergreen. These include the pines and spruces, yews or taxus, and the junipers. They all give the yard beautiful green foliage all year long.

Trees that produce berries can provide additional color to a winter landscape. Most types of flowering crab apple trees produce red or yellow fruit in the fall, which last and are attractive all winter long. For brilliant bright orange or red color, consider plants in the hawthorn family, which is known for its vibrant colored berries, or many of the holly varieties.

For interesting twig color, the yellow or red stemmed dogwood is quite intriguing. The birch, with its various shades of white bark, also makes quite a contrast in the winter landscape.

Bark texture can also create interest in the winter. The winged euonymus or the Paper Bark maple are two examples of trees with very unusual bark.

To really add excitement to a winter landscape, consider what I call some of the more eccentric plants. These delight with their unusual shapes, and profiled against a stark winter day are sure to grab the spotlight.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick is named for the 1920's comedian who carried a walking stick taken from the plant. It is a large shrub or small tree that has the ability to grow in every direction but up. It tends to grow in a twisting, turning way, creating all kinds of curly cues and configurations with its branches.

The weeping spruce and weeping flowering crab apple also have unusual shapes. Junipers, with their many foliage colors, can be trained to appear with pom pon-like growth, and the espaliered evergreens, which can be trained to grow up the sides of walls in all kinds of shapes, should also be considered.

You can plan and plant your winter landscapes still this season and enjoy a beautiful landscape year round.