Turn your garden into a Winter Wonderland

Now that winter is almost here and our beloved deciduous plants have mostly shed their leaves, who says you have to settle for a drab-looking garden for the next 4 to 5 months? 

Beyond the usual evergreens, there are many other beautiful native plants that offer visual interest and color through the dark winter months in addition to offering food for our migrating and resident birds. Why plant only one when you can have them all?

Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)

This somewhat large shrub has beautiful red berries that provide strong winter interest as well as food for birds and small animals. It is a diecious plant (i.e. requiring male and female plants for pollination) with only the female bearing the berries. 

Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea)

This shrub is an all-season wonder. The white berries are attractive and popular with birds. The red leaves provide beautiful fall interest and the final show happens in the winter when the red stems provide a dramatic backdrop to the snow. 

The shrub also comes in a yellow version which is equally stunning in the fall and winter landscape.

Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

This smaller shrub provides vibrant leaf color in the fall and purplish-black fruits that persist in the winter, providing a feast for birds and humans alike (can be used to make jams and jellies although I have not tried either.)

And finally, one way of having winter interest in your garden is to leave the hard-stemmed plants such as Sedum and Coneflowers (Echinacea) as well as grasses alone until Spring.  The seedheads not only provide food for birds during the winter but look great when it snows.