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Winter Interest

November 20 2020

Winter Interest
Winter Interest

After the leaves have fallen and the temperature has cooled, your garden can begin to look a little sad. Fortunately there are many different plants that will create interest in your garden and containers through the colder months! The lists below include suggestions, but there are many more plants available.  Some of the plants are also appropriate for planters, and those have been marked with an asterisk (*).

 

Colorful or interesting twigs:  Contorted Filbert, red and yellow twig dogwood, Pacific fire vine maple and coral bark Japanese maple.  In general, twig color intensifies as the weather gets colder.

 

Flowers:  Camellia (sasanqua for winter flowering, japonica for spring), Mahonia, Daphne odora (winder Daphne, smells heavenly), heather, Sarcococca, and witch hazel.  Winter flowering shrubs are particularly attractive to hummingbirds.

                     

Berries:  crab apples, Cotoneaster, Pyracantha, holly, beauty berry, and *wintergreen.

 

Foliage color and texture:  Chamaecyparis, esp. gold mop and rimpelaar, Leucothoe scarletta, Nandina, blueberry (bountiful blue), Skimmia and Pieris.

 

Perennials:  *Euphorbia, *hellebores, Bergenia, *Heuchera, *sedum, *sedges, *sweet flag, *black mondo grass, and *ferns (autumn, sword, Alaska, tassel and deer).

 

Annuals and semi-hardy plants:  *Wilma cypress, *dusty miller, *kale, *cyclamen and *pansies.  These plants do better in a protected area.  Repeated hard freezes or a protracted extremely cold spell could do them in.

 

1 comment

  • Christine Young: March 01, 2023
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    I’m looking to replace a large fir tree in our front yard whose roots are above groud in two place and one is heading directly toward a fire hydrant. We have heard that if we cut that root that the tree will probably die – so unfortunately we are going to have it removed. We would like to replace it but we don’t know what type of tree to replace it with. We also have three flowering Japanese plum trees that are holding their own against the weather. thank you for any recommendations you could make.
    Christine

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