Landscaping in the Cold: Ideas for Wintertime Beauty

Is your garden totally unusable during the winter? Not at all. It is just that a lot of the summer activities you associate with the garden cannot take place now. This fact  can be frustrating, but it is not the quality of your garden that decides this, but nature itself. Instead of referring to the garden as an inhospitable area during the winter, you can negotiate a little with nature.

Brighton fencing

Here are a few landscaping ideas for wintertime beauty.

PLANTS THAT BLOOM IN WINTER. Include in your landscaping project plants that also bloom in the icy season, such as: witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), camellia (Camellia sasanqua “Jean May”, C. japonica), hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus, H. foetidus), paper bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha), winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), mahonia (Berberis bealei), winter anemone (Eranthis hyemalis), etc. They come packed with evergreen leaves, colorful (and fragrant) flowers and provide a perfect backdrop for all other plants in the cold season.

ORNAMENTAL GRASSES. Attractive, easy to grow and care for, ornamental grasses are valuable points of interest in your garden, in the cold season. They can add extra movement to the frozen space, but also texture and color, offering an interesting contrast with the evergreen plants, white snow and red fruits of some shrubs.

DECORATIVE ELEMENTS. A simple bench,  traditional Brighton fencing, sculptures, an unusual pot, an arch, a lantern or wind chimes can make the yard more beautiful, personal and interesting, even in the cold season.