The winter is the perfect time to really look at your landscape design. Now that the leaves have left the trees and the perennials are cut to stubs, is your landscaping looking barren and drab? Do you wish you had the right plants in place to love your yard EVERY season? A carefully drafted design accounts for the barren days of winter, making sure there is visual interest in your garden throughout the year. Here are five ways to transform a drab yard into a wonderful winter scene.
-
Anchor with Evergreens
Evergreen shrubs and conifers – such as boxwood, pine, spruce and fir – offer pops of green, gold and blue – even long after the colorful perennials have faded. They are great year-round focal points, bringing texture and color to your landscape design. Incorporating these plants into your beds is an easy way to create contrast against the winter’s white snow.
-
Add Texture with Bark
When deciduous trees lose their leaves in the winter, artful trunks and branches are revealed. Ornamental trees, including birch, cherry and dogwoods, with distinctive shapes and bark draw the eye during the monochromatic season.
-
Bring in Berries.
Many trees and shrubs hold onto berries throughout the cold months, making them wonderful additions to a winter landscape. Holly, winterberry and crabapple trees provide beautiful berries and fruit that attract the attention of both people and hungry birds, enticing even more color to your garden.
-
Remember Hight Matters
No matter how pretty a shrub may be, it will not add visual interest to your home’s landscape if it is buried by snow all winter long. Be sure to select plants and shrubs that will grow tall enough to be seen after a snowfall.
-
Incorporate Hardscape
Sometimes the best way to enhance your winter landscape is with hardscape. Stone walls, steps and walkways add dimension. Arbors create height and augment the architecture. Sculptures improve aesthetics.
If you live in the Bergen County, New Jersey and Rockland County, New York area, give us a call to learn how our landscape architects can help you create the perfect landscape for all seasons.