In our previous post, we discussed ways of thinking about and looking at your landscape to help transform it into a place that is interesting and engaging all year long. If you haven’t read that one yet, we strongly encourage you to go back to it first to get a broader-picture perspective of why designing your landscape to be dynamic and transforming all year-round is worth it.
However, it also takes a fair bit of skill and knowledge, not to mention a flair for the artistic. You can try it on your own, but we strongly recommend you hire a professional horticulturist to help you design a landscape that is suitable for both your aesthetic and with species that bloom, turn colors, or do something else evenly distributed throughout the year.
Over the past 50 years, Anderson Landscape Construction has been providing Sterling with top-of-the-line landscape design and construction services. We are proud of each and every landscape we have designed, each one coming with its unique challenges, and with each owner having their own design vision that they want us to implement for them. If you are in Sterling and are looking for a team you can rely on to exceed your expectations and manifest your vision for a year-round landscape or garden, reach out to our team today for your free consultation.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN FOR EACH SEASON
This guide continues now to provide some tips and species suggestions for each season of the year. There is a common misconception out there that your landscape is only going to look exciting and interesting during the warmer months. This simply is not true. There are plenty of species of plants that look great even in the winter. So, to start this series, let’s begin with some plant species that look great during the colder months.
Landscape Design for Winter
Don’t resign yourself to a dead, dreary yard this winter. Consider incorporating some of these cold-weather wonder-plants to make your yard look more inviting and pleasing this winter.
#1: The Weeping Norway Spruce
For a unique accent tree in your yard that stays green all year long, a great choice is the weeping Norway spruce. Unlike many other species of weeping ornamentals, this one doesn’t lose its leaves in cold weather. Its unusual shape and cool-looking cones makes this an intriguing, eye-catching tree for providing your garden with a vertical splash of green all year round.
#2: Snowdrops
You can find snowdrops growing naturally all over the rolling highlands of Scotland and many other places, being native to a large part of Europe. These secretive, downward-nodding white flowers bloom in winter, bringing your landscape a heartfelt reminder that spring is not too far off. Snowdrops are extremely resilient, being able to flower even during subzero temperatures. For many people, they symbolize hope and purity, in large part because they are white and connect with our desire to make it through another cold winter. An added bonus? They smell great, and bring the scent of spring to your garden long before the season begins.
#3: Christmas Rose
The Christmas Rose is an evergreen perennial that grows to about 14 inches tall and has shiny, dark green leaves. These gorgeous plants are extremely sturdy and flower in late winter. During the Middle Ages, people actually strewed the flowers from Christmas Rose bushes all over their floors as a way to drive out evil. At the time, it was called hellebore.
#4: Osier Dogwood
Except for the colors provided by evergreens and the occasional berry bush or tree, your winter landscape is most likely going to be dominated by the colors grey, white, and brown. Adding some trees with red bark, like the osier dogwood, can brighten things up significantly. The red bark of the dogwood can create a lovely contrast against the white snow.
Winter Landscaping Tips
Adding texture, color, and improving the beauty of your landscape during the winter can be achieved by considering these five tips:
#1: Focus on Evergreens
The first thing we encourage you to focus on when thinking about your winter landscape is to include plenty of evergreens. Evergreens add a much-needed addition of color during the otherwise grey and tan months of the year. You can get evergreens green, blue, or yellow. They provide a fantastic focal point for your backyard landscape all year round. Functionally, they make for great borders, as well.
#2: The Texture of Bark
Sure, the leaves may fall off your deciduous trees in the wintertime, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, from a landscape design perspective. A clever landscape designer will know to take into account the branches and trunks of your deciduous trees. Interesting ornamentals with visually distinctive bark can add a nice, compelling focal point for your winter landscape. Some great examples of deciduous trees with interesting bark are birch and dogwood. They also both have a nice color.
#3: Plant Bushes and Trees with Berries
Many bushes and trees grow or hold onto their berries during the fall and winter. These can provide a splash of color in your otherwise monochromatic landscape, and can also provide some food for birds during the colder months. Holly bushes and crabapple trees are two great options for plants that keep their berries during the winter season.
#4: Hardscaping
Landscaping with winter in mind is not always about plants. Doing a bit of hardscaping can also have a powerful effect, making your yard more interesting and inviting. The best time to consider doing hardscaping — like installing a sculpture or a bench — is the winter.
#5: Plant Some Four-Season Perennials
Foliage like ornamental grasses and hellebores are great year-round plants for your landscape, providing yourself some verdant winter ornamentation that, unlike many other plant species, don’t simply die off. For more suggestions about great perennials that are suitable for your landscape vision that stay attractive all year long, contact Anderson Landscape Construction in Sterling for your free consultation.
Transform Your Winter Landscape in Sterling
If you are in Sterling and are looking to hire a team of professional horticulturists, softscape specialists, project managers, and landscapers, you can do no better than choosing Anderson Landscape Construction to produce for you an outdoor living environment that is well-balanced for staying attractive all year long. Our team is passionate about providing you finely crafted, peerlessly beautiful landscape design. We will work closely with you and landscape architects throughout New England to provide you with your dream yard. Reach out today to book a consultation!
In Part I of this article series, we discussed some of the big-picture details about getting a beautiful landscape designed for your home. In this post, we introduced why you would benefit from a four-season backyard landscape and discussed some ideas for making that happen during the winter months. In our next post, we will be moving on to the next season: spring. Read that article here!
To jump forward or backward to any of the other posts in this series, click on the appropriate link below:
Part II: Winter
We hope you have enjoyed today’s blog post. We look forward to speaking with you soon to discuss how we can help you transform your landscape into something that stays memorable and beautiful all year round.