It is true that the bulk of gardening happens during the months when it is the nicest outside — the spring and summer. However, you don’t have to settle for a garden that is brown and empty during the winter season. By choosing your plants correctly and doing some advance planning, you can end up with a garden that is beautiful all year round, even if your part of the world gets cold in the winter.
It is important to know your climate zone. This is information that you can find out easily from the Internet or from a professional at a local nursery. This is the key for making a lot of the other decisions for your garden, particularly in the area of plant choice. If you live in Michigan and want to grow palm trees in your winter garden, you will probably end up wasting a lot of time and money, because that tree just will not grow the way you want it to — if it even bothers to poke its head out of the soil at all.
Winter time is cold, which means you need plants that have plenty of their own protection and armor. This is why plants develop bark, so that they can protect themselves from the elements. For wintry plants, look at ornamental trees and shrubs that have plenty of wood on them. They can withstand the cold wind and the icy elements (to some degree) and are more likely to make it through the cold winter months, emerging in the spring with their beauty and health intact.
Berry plants can do well during the winter — the holly plant is one that is particularly hardy during the cold months and can give your house a holiday decoration that you don’t have to climb up a ladder and install. Kill two birds with one stone by adding this to your gardening plan.
Colorful containers are a way to boost your garden’s visual beauty, because even in a healthy winter garden, your colors are just going to be brown and green in a best case scenario. The vibrant primary colors that make your garden beautiful in the spring and summer simply cannot make it through the rigors of winter. Choose colors that will complement your existing outdoor decor and make your home look like a winter wonderland.
You don’t have to rely on containers and plants to provide all of the color in the wintertime. There are many beautiful garden ornaments that have been made to beautify gardens during the time of year when plants themselves are in hibernation, waiting for the warm sun and rain to start growing again. Invest in some of these ornaments, and just put them in the garage during the rest of the year, so that you can surprise yourself and your family when the winter comes with new beauty.
Winter gardens do not have as many beautiful plants, but you don’t have to have a wasteland in your front yard from December to March. Get some ideas from this article to make a beautiful space.