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Friendly Plants for an Unfriendly Winter

© Nathalie Gignac Henderson

It is hard to think of winter and imagine colours at the same time. But a couple of plants will change the mood and add new warmth to our yards. For a winter garden, it is important to have plants that will bring you colours and structure. Blending evergreens and deciduous plants give a perfect and exciting result for the winter. While we have all the flowers and leaves in the other seasons, berries, evergreens and bark are there to stay.They are useful to supply a joyful contrast in the fall and winter landscape.

All evergreens are not the same shade of green and some even change colour with the approaching cold temperatures. We have Canada Hemlock with dark green needles and white bands beneath, Sawara False Cypress, which includes the “Filifera” with yellow needles and the beautiful “Boulevard” with its silvery blue-green foliage are great examples of the different shades available to us. There are many good varieties of Cedar, which is deep rooted and drought tolerant once established. The graceful Deodar Cedar “Aurea” turns to golden-green in summer, but its 40-ft spread could be overwhelming for your area. You can restrain it by cutting the new side branches halfway back in late spring, which only makes it more dense. And finally “Glauca Pendula” with its weeping blue needles and slow growing “Pendula Sargentii” with a short trunk and dense branches, a very good choice for containers and rock gardens.

Bark was not only used for paper or baskets but also for ornamental purposes. The red bark of Tatarian dogwood seen against a dark evergreen or a rhododendron will add interest to your yard for the winter. Here are some trees with gorgeous bark: Japanese flowering cherry, Amur chokeberry, coral bark maple, lace-bark pine, and paper bark maple.

Of course, for some zones, ornamental grasses, sedges, and ferns can also be considered in your planning for the winter. Eulalia grass and carex “bronze” are very attractive and will retain some life in your yard.

There are not many evergreen vines and vinelike plants we can chose from but we can count on those to satisfy us. English ivy, Virginia creeper, evergreen clematis, euonymus fortunei, Chilean bellflower, trachelospermum asiaticum, and passion vine are a few examples.

You can also create some forms and colours in your winter garden. It is easier than you think. Erect an arch richly draped with vines, or contrast the warm caramel of European beech against dark greens conifers. Look in gardens and landscaping books, you will notice the structure and colour contrast they chose. A book I have most enjoyed is “The well-planned garden” by Rupert Golby. It has gorgeous pictures, many examples with details and some planning layouts with plant names and sketches.

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