Even though February may feel especially bleak to gardeners, the winter landscape can be full of charming and appealing features. Some plants actually get more interesting at this time of year.
Evergreens are the most obvious choice for fighting off winter doldrums. A green hedge as a background, for example, plus a few shrubs at prominent spots can take the edge off winter drab. A mix of broadleaf evergreens and conifers makes the landscape more interesting, but too much green can be monotonous.
A number of deciduous trees can offer winter interest such as peeling bark.
(Photos Sandra Leavitt Lerner For The Washington Post)
|
|
There are three things to look for when creating winter interest: color, shape and texture. Have you ever noticed that a tree you haven't paid much attention to in leaf suddenly, with its leaves off, has a really interesting shape or intriguing bark? That's what you're looking for when you plant your garden for winter interest. As the showier plants become dormant or die, you start to notice the subtler, but still lovely, structure and texture of your plants.
For example, the contorted filbert, also known as Harry Lauder's walking stick, is a large shrub or small tree. In leaf it looks like an ordinary woody plant, pleasant but with no special qualities. But when the leaves fall off, the contorted, curlicue branches make it exceedingly interesting. Its catkins elongate later in the winter, and the twisted twigs become decorated with miniature, tail-like flowers.
Besides its forsythia-like yellow flowers that begin in January and continue into March, winter-flowering jasmine also has square stems that remain green all winter, giving them an interesting character. And their arching habit makes them perfect to plant on sunny slopes or to cascade over walls. If they get out of hand after three to five years, cut them back to 10- to 12-inch stems in spring to renew.
One dogwood species, red osier (Cornus sericea), is a lot like Harry Lauder's walking stick in that its greatest ornamental value becomes evident in winter as it loses its leaves. The long, straight stems of these seven- to 10-foot-tall shrubs turn an outstanding blood red that holds all winter. Then they leaf out and retreat to the back of the shrub border again, allowing other plants to make their show in spring.
Some Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) have bright red stems and branches that come into their own in winter. Two varieties are sango kaku, or coral bark Japanese maple, and butterfly Japanese maple.
Then there are some woody plants whose bark is as good as any of their other ornamental characteristics.
Paper bark maple (Acer griseum) has a cinnamon-red, peeling bark that makes it an outstanding specimen plant. Throw in the bonus that it's a clean, disease- and insect-resistant small maple that grows about 20 to 25 feet in height, and it becomes a very desirable small tree for your winter garden.
Kousa dogwoods have long-lasting flowers in spring, large red edible fruits in summer and maroon foliage in fall. You almost forget about their other interesting characteristic until winter, when all else has passed and the browns and almost white, light tans of the lacy bark become the feature you notice. It's shade tolerant, extremely disease resistant and, growing only 20 to 30 feet, is a small tree that will fit most landscape designs.
