Winter feels like a season full of grays and browns. But Mother Nature laughs about all you’re missing! Want to add some vibrant color to your garden? Here are some widely available plants to bring warm hues to your landscape during the cold weather.
Holly
Many of us think of cheerful berries at Christmas time. There are a wide variety of hollies that produce bright red berries which persist until spring, unless the birds eat them. American hollies (Ilex opaca) are tall, slow growing, durable and hardy from Massachusetts to Florida. Chinese hollies (Ilex cornuta) feature glossy dark green leaves; with small fragrant white flowers in spring and large displays of fire-engine-red berries persisting all winter or until the birds are finished feasting. All these hollies are nearly carefree and locally hardy.
Needlepoint, Burford and Nellie R. Stevens holly are readily available and easy additions to your landscape. Fosters holly (Ilex attenuata) offers a finer texture with smaller, less spiny leaves on a narrow upright bush. Yaupon hollies (Ilex vomitoria) are a tough, compact native. Its small leaves give it a fine soft texture. Yaupon’s dense set of bright red berries will make you glad you planted it.


Winter King Hawthorn
Winter King Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis) is a tough, small (approx. 20 feet) tree multi-season performer. In spring there are clouds of fleecy white flowers. Its delicate canopy, horizontal branching habit, and smooth, silvery bark are interesting in summer. A clear light yellow leaf color will stand out in fall. But it’s wintertime when Winter King really earns its title. Scarlett berries line its limbs, lasting through winter, or until the birds feast on them. And those birds bring a charming energy and pops of color to a dormant landscape.Camellia
There are shrubs and perennials that flower during the cold months for those who find berries too subtle. Camellia japonicas and camellia sasanquas flower at different months between November and April. Yuletide sasanqua starts blooming in the Christmas season (hence the name) displaying eye-popping scarlet blooms with thumb-sized masses of golden stamens. Different varieties of camellia will bloom for six to eight weeks at different times during the winter months, sometimes even longer due to our variable winter weather. Debutante will start blooming as early as November. Mathotiana has cold-hardy buds which pop open a few at a time during warm weeks in January to March. Camellias like Professor Sargent save their blooms for March and April. All camellias have glossy dark green leaves. Most are upright (taller than they are wide) and a good choice for an elegant hedge or a screen in part shade areas. (Yuletide needs full sun to bloom its best.) However, some camellia sasanquas are bush form, adding variety in shady shrub borders in part shade or part sunny areas. There are thousands of named varieties, or cultivars. See what is available in your local nurseries and do some research.


Hellebores
Don’t have much room. Don’t despair. Hellebores (Helleborus orientalis) are a low growing (6 to 8 inches) evergreen perennial that blooms from January to April or May. Hellebores produce clusters of tulip-shaped flowers in white, pink, burgundy, chartreuse, and red. They produce viable seed so they will create an expanding clump and occasional volunteer seedlings throughout the garden.
Other winter blooming shrubs like Witch Hazel or Japanese Wintersweet are worth a look for a vibrant winter yard.
Ornamental Shrubs
Evergreen shrubs with colorful foliage bring sunshine into the gray days of winter. Golden Mop Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera nana) needs little care beyond some watering in drought. It offers gold, weeping foliage. Golden Mop grows slowly allowing many uses in your landscape.
The leaves of Dwarf Nandina turn a fiery red in cold weather. It’s almost impervious to neglect in any sunny, well-drained area. It’s reluctant to grow taller than three feet. The Firepower Dwarf Nandina greets summer with golden leaves tipped with red.
Some varieties of Loropetalum (Loropetalum chinense) will maintain their deep purple or burgundy foliage throughout the year. However, some will be huge, up to 30 feet, while others remain reliably compact. Do your research before purchasing.
Winter shade gardens are not left without color. Florida Sunshine Illicium (Illicium parviflorum) looks like a rhododendron with golden leaves. It requires little care beyond watering during drought and pruning two or three times every year in any well drained shady area.
Trees
Surprisingly even a tree gets in on the act of providing a vibrant winter yard. The North American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) holds enchanting copper gold leaves all winter until new leaves push them off in the spring. Sun or shade in any fertile well drained soil is all the same for a Beech. Water whenever it fails to rain for more than a week in the first year after planting. The smooth, silvery bark is an added charm.
Want more options? The Sangu Kaku Japanese maple has vivid scarlet bark which is on breathtaking display after leaf drop. With proper siting and planting, Sangu Kaku is trouble-free year-round beauty.
In Summary
All these plants give you joy year after year if they are properly sited and planted with some care. If you are not sure or just don’t enjoy “pick and shovel” exercise, contact us at Glasscapes Inc. (678) 525-5490. Visit our landscape gallery. Or drop us an email.
