A New View for the Winter Garden
By Jodi Torpey
January can be one of the dreariest months because of the colder temperatures, darker afternoons and lack of color in the garden. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. If you’d like to improve the view from your windows, now’s the time to add some winter interest to your garden.
One way to make an immediate impact is to plant at least one large winter container. While we admire the lovely containers filled with branches and greenery at garden centers, gardeners seldom take the time to create a similar display at home.
All you need is one or more metal, wood or fiberglass containers filled with soil. The larger the container, the more dramatic the display.
If the soil is frozen, simply thaw it with hot water. Then insert pine boughs leftover from the Christmas tree and drape them over the sides of the container. Add more greenery, curly willow branches, pine cones and other natural ornaments from the garden. For a longer-lasting container, water to keep the greens looking fresh.
If the container is large enough, you could stick the entire Christmas tree in the container and decorate it with strings of popcorn to feed the birds.
Another way to create a more interesting winter landscape is to consider what vertical structures you could add when the weather warms. Archways, trellises and arbors provide visual impact during four seasons, especially when covered with a nice frosting of snow.
The quiet season of winter is the ideal time to think ahead for adding plants that can add impact, too. Trees, shrubs and perennial plants provide form and structure for better winter scenes in the future.
Put on your coat, grab your camera and step outside to take pictures of the leafless landscape. Photos taken with bare trees and shrubs will help you see what’s structurally missing from the landscape.
Then make a list of what will make a difference when you look at the landscape next winter. Your list may include an arbor, bench, birdbath or a sundial.
A good way to warm up the winter garden is by adding plants that have natural gold foliage. Gold conifers come in many shapes and sizes, and each is sure to liven up blank spaces when used in an island planting or alone as a specimen plant.
The three ‘Gold Lace’ junipers I planted in the backyard several years ago add depth to the landscape in summer, but they also provide some much-needed color in winter when I need it the most.
