A Winter Garden

The first snowfall of the season has reminded me again of the importance of planning for a winter garden. Here in New England the winters can seem well…long. Often we are looking at nothing but white and brown from November until late March. Lack of planning for a winter garden means the garden that wowed you in June will leave you wanting in January.

Evergreens are certainly one way to add color to a stark winter garden but I am also a huge fan of deciduous trees and shrubs that have a structural beauty. Even without leaves these plants can be breathtaking due to exfoliating bark, colorful stems or berries. Birches, Japanese maples, dogwood shrubs, winterberry hollies – these are all-stars in a winter landscape and when I am designing gardens I try to incorporate them whenever possible.

But even if you only garden in containers, consider winter.

A new client tasked us with creating a beautiful collection of containers to decorate his deck. He wanted it to be beautiful year round since his family looked out on it from several rooms. Of course we used evergreens but we also featured a beautiful deciduous tree commonly known as Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick.

…… Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’) …..

This is a beautiful tree year-round but especially in the winter months when its twisted branches are dusted with snow.

I was grateful that when the first snow came all my clients had been decorated for the winter and would have something beautiful to look at until the temperatures warm. There was only one house that I had not gotten to and it was my own. I had put something simple in the front urns and despite my plans for a more elaborate design they may stay that way.

trickett winter garden design