How to Add Winter Interest to Your Landscaping
Depending on where you live in the United States, “winter” can mean anything from a few weeks of cold rain to months under a blanket of snow. No matter how long or how harsh, your winter doesn’t have to be a dead zone for your landscaping. By thinking strategically about what you plant, hardscape, and accents—you can enjoy four seasons of dynamic landscaping.
How can you add winter interest to your landscaping? There are three basic elements that will increase the dynamism of your winter landscaping: color, texture, and form. You can introduce variety and increase interest in each of these three elements through the choices you make about what to plant, your hardscape, and accent features.
If you spend the warmer months enjoying the outdoor areas of your property only to draw the curtains and close the blinds when winter arrives, you’re missing out on the beauty and tranquility that winter has to offer. With a little bit of planning and a little bit of work, you can make your landscaping work with the winter months to provide year-round enjoyment.
Color, Texture, and Form for a Dynamic Winter Landscape
There are so many ways to introduce color, texture, and form into the appearance of your landscaping across the winter months that it helps to think about those options in a systematic way. It’s important to find options that work for you and install them in ways that work for your property without getting bogged down by all those options.
If your current landscaping slides away to flat, uninterrupted, and monochrome with the first snowfall then it’s probably not much fun to spend time outside in it or enjoy the views of it from inside with a steaming cup of coffee. That can make for a long winter, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Add interest to your winter landscaping by introducing:
· Color: What you plant can provide splashes of color that stand out against the white of snow, the pale greens of winter grass, or the grey of cloudy skies.
· Texture: Both plants and hardscapes can add texture to your winter landscape.
· Form: We like to think of form as the big-picture. How does everything work together when you take a step back and soak it all in?
For the remainder of this article, we’ll be discussing what to plant, hardscape options, and accent features that will give you winter landscaping that is dynamic and interesting. Following these ideas, you’ll be able to select the right options for your planting zone, property, sense of style, and budget.
Color
What you plant can make a big difference in how your landscaping looks over the winter. Of course, evergreens are a great way to hang on to some green through the dormant months, but they can also supply blues, yellows, and reds – depending on your preferences and selections. Beyond that—bark, berries, and even flowers can help you keep your landscaping colorful year-round.
· Evergreens – Conifers are the first thing that comes to mind for many of us when we think of evergreens. But there are plenty of options beyond your basic pines. Spruces, Firs, and Cypress can introduce hues that range from silvers and blues to yellow and even reds.
· Bark – When the leaves fall from deciduous plants, you get a clear view of the beautiful textures and colors that their bark has to offer. Some trees offer deeply furrowed bark or bark that peels and curls to introduce both color and texture. Other trees and shrubs like Dogwoods will inject a splash of bright color when their leaves fall away.
· Berries – Crabapples, Holly, and Winterberry can be a great way to plot out spots of color that will pop against a snowy background.
· Flowers – Certain species like Camellia Japonica and members of the Hellebore family can be counted on to favor your winter landscape with blossoms and blooms during the winter months.
Texture
Breaking up a flat, monotonous winter landscape is something that can be done with an eye toward the big picture, the little details, or both. Think about how snowfall will look across the latticework of a trellis, or laying across the low-creeping foliage of dianthus. But also think about how walls, paths, and sculptures will make your landscaping more three-dimensional.
Figure out where your landscape is in need of focal points and get creative about how to supply them. Maybe you’re a fan of the way a freshly swept red brick path looks as it curves through the snow toward your garden. Maybe you prefer to spot re-purposed country-style containers near planted features to accent what you have.
There are so many options for introducing texture to your winter landscape that it’s impossible to say what will work best for your property and your unique sense of style. What will be most important to getting results that grab attention is thinking about texture on multiple levels and using multiple approaches.
Accents
Once you’ve put together a plan to make color and texture work for you in ways that give you a dynamic, interesting winter landscape—think about ways to make them stand out!
One of the most versatile ways to accent your landscaping is with lighting:
· Recessed lighting can be a great way to make an ornamental wall lend beauty and interest to your landscaping once the sun goes down.
· Lamps or low-profile lights can offer an energy-efficient or solar-powered option for accenting driveways, sidewalks, or paths.
· Spotlights can highlight your favorite landscaping features from ornamental shrubs to statues and accent pieces.
In addition to lighting, you can also consider introducing fire or water features to your winter landscape. A stone fire circle or a chimenea can be a great reason to get outside and enjoy your beautiful winter landscaping. Water features can be set-up to either resist freezing or freeze strategically to suit the look you’re going for.
The ways you choose to accent your winter landscaping should do two things. First, they should highlight the best features of the choices you made about color and texture. Second, they should add the finishing touches that make your winter landscaping uniquely you.
For Expert Advice on Winter Landscaping in Ogden, Utah Call Naylorscapes
For help finding the winter landscaping options that you’ll love, call Naylorscapes. We have plenty of experience helping customers in Northern Utah find the right landscaping, hardscaping, and accent options to make their property shine all year long. Call us today or fill out our work request form on our website to speak to one of our landscaping experts.
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