The Winter Garden
text and drawings by Margaret A. Moebius
In late fall, we gardeners in the Northeast speak of “putting the garden to bed.” We cut back spent foliage, pull dead annual and vegetable plants out of the ground, and clean up our gardens before winter begins. Although the colorful flowers of spring, summer, and early fall are gone, this doesn’t mean our gardens need be devoid of visual interest once snow arrives. There are many plants that can provide beauty in winter by means of their unusual bark, branching habit, silhouette, bright berries, stem color, and seed heads. Some of them are actually best enjoyed during winter.
Trees
Lacebark pine.
Several trees have bark or a branching habit that makes for wonderful additions to the winter garden. One, the lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana) is aptly named. The bark consists of patches of light and dark gray and yellow, and thus has a “lacy” look, visible from quite a distance. This pine often has multiple trunks and is slow-growing, so is perfect for the small garden. Some pines can have disease and insect problems, so it’s best to provide this tree with optimum conditions of full sun and good drainage.
The Amur chokecherry (Prunus maackii) is a very cold-hardy, four-season tree, producing white flowers in spring, bright green foliage in summer, reddish-black berres in fall, and interesting bark in winter. Its bark is a bronze color that glows like amber on sunny days, and peels in shaggy, horizontal strips. This tree grows to about 25 feet, and requires deep, well-drained soil.
The crabapple (Malus species) is another tree for all seasons. In spring, its many varieties produce flowers in shades of pink, white, magenta and red, followed by orange or yellow fruits that sometimes persist into winter. Crabapples in winter have an interesting branch pattern that can look lovely with newly fallen snow upon it.
Some varieties of the Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) have contorted trunks and branches that delight the eye in winter. The branches of Weeping Japanese Maples arch downward, with the lower branches often touching the ground. A Japanese Maple is considered a must-have for every garden, large or small, because of its lovely deeply-cut leaves, bark texture, and growth pattern.
Shrubs
Harry Lauder's Walking Stick.
A most interesting shrub in the winter landscape is the strangely-named Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana “Contorta”). It’s a deciduous flowering shrub, produced by grafting, and related to the filberts and hazelnuts. When the foliage drops in the fall, the branches appear contorted and look like corkscrews, making it one of the most fascinating shrubs with snow on its branches, or ice encasing them. This plant got its odd name from a Scottish comedian of the 1930s, who in his act used a crooked branch as a cane and became well known over the years for amassing a large collection of unusual crooked walking sticks. This shrub is best grown as a specimen plant.
Other shrubs provide winter interest by means of their berry or branch color. Both the red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) and the American cranberrybush (Viburnum trilobum) bear bright red berries through winter. Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) has multiple red stems in winter, and the variety “Flaviramea” produces chartreuse-colored stems.
Grasses
In recent years, ornamental grasses have become more popular in both private and public gardens. Not only are these grasses visually attractive in winter, but they are true “four-season” plants. Grasses are relatively low-maintenance, generally do not suffer from pests or diseases, and are fairly easy to establish in the garden. They are rarely eaten by deer, are drought tolerant, and include varieties that tolerate wet conditions and shade. Ornamental grasses look lovely poking above the snow, and sparkle when encased with a light coating of frost or ice.
Grasses that provide a good show in winter are the larger grasses such as maiden grass (Miscanthus) and switch grass (Panicum). The unusual leaves of Miscanthus sinensis “Gold Bar” have bands of gold alternating with bands of green, and burgundy-colored plumes in fall. Miscanthus sinensis “Puenchen” produces delicate beige plumes, and Miscanthus sinensis “Silver Feather” has large silver plumes and an arching habit. Panicum virgatum is a lovely, graceful plant in the summer, with slender, upright, blue-green leaves, and plumes that are more “airy” in appearance than those of Miscanthus. The variety called “Prairie Fire” has blueish stems and burgundy leaves. In winter, the dried foliage of ornamental grasses turn a straw-color, but retain their plumes. The plumes “dance” with the slightest breeze, and appear illuminated when backlit by the sun.
For a large garden, there’s a grass called plume grass (Erianthus ravennae). It needs room to spread though, as a clump about 2 feet in diameter will increase to 8 feet in diameter in about 15 years. The flower spikes of this grass are impressive, reaching 8 to 12 feet high. These silver plumes, with a hint of purple, turn white in late fall and persist all winter, creating a dramatic presence in the garden.
This is by no means a complete list of all the plants that will provide winter interest and are hardy in our area. As gardeners, we should strive to have “year-round” gardens. So search out plants with unusual shapes, textures, patterns, forms, and color, particularly those that will grow tall enough to be visible above several feet of snow.
