WINTER GARDEN

What is a winter garden?

A winter garden is an ornamental garden designed to reach its greatest appeal during the cold, gloomy winter months.

Winter gardens appeal to your senses of sight, smell and hearing by careful selection of different plants. Conifers and broad-leaved plants with bright, colorful foliage, stems, flowers and fruits are staples in winter gardens. There are many trees and shrubs which bloom in the winter, some of which are delightfully fragrant. Winter-flowering bulbs such as snowdrops and crocus are well-known and widely cultivated winter-blooming plants. Plants which produce colorful fruit are often included in winter gardens. Some evergreen plants, like bamboo, can combine colorful stems and foliage with a soothing sound as wind ruffles the leaves on breezy winter days. 

This winter garden is relatively small and focuses on display of flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants for color and fragrance in the winter. It also incorporates some conifers to provide colorful foliage and help define the borders of the garden.

Why is it important?

With their many elements, winter gardens are an opportunity to show how to brighten the landscape in our cool, wet winter months. They are also a way to educate about the many trees and shrubs that will bloom during this time. Some of these trees and shrubs provide food for insects that are active on warm winter days as well as for overwintering hummingbirds. 

How can I do this in my home garden?

A winter garden can be as small or large as your available space permits, as the size of winter-interest plants ranges from very small perennials to large trees and shrubs. The underlying goal is to provide the gardener with inspiration and pleasure during this season, so it might be a single colorful or blooming plant, even if that is in a container. Even if you devote only a small corner of your garden to winter interest, this might be sufficient for a blooming shrub as well as some colorful companion plants.  They don’t have to all be clustered together, either. If you prefer, you can also spread out winter interest plants throughout the garden to provide points of interest during the winter.