I know my December garden isn’t going to compete with my Spring one, where bulbs are coming up, and everything is bursting with promise. And it certainly won’t match the Summer one, where it’s flowering at full tilt. But does a Winter garden need to look so…drab? I’ve decided not, so today I’m going to explore how to create Winter interest in your garden.
My Inspiration
The inspiration for this blog post came from my wonderful friend Ginny, who lives in my village. Ginny is redesigning her front garden, and at the moment it’s pretty much a blank canvas. The previous plants have been removed, so there’s not a lot there. What’s been installed is a new circular lawn and some paved pathways. However yesterday I saw that she’s taken delivery of some extremely handsome box balls. What struck me was that with these very archtectural plants, the crisp edged lawn and the pathyways, the view is already transformed. You can relatively simply inject ingredients which create Winter interest in your garden.
So I thought I’d dig a little deeper, and consider what it takes to ensure your garden visually works in these drabbest of months.
Framework
The paths, walls, steps, paving, archways and arbors seem to me to provide the backbone to a Winter garden. You don’t notice them when everything is in full bloom in the Summer, but in Winter they provide strucutre. So it pays to think about these hard structures, the views you’re creating, the curve of paths, having things slightly hidden from view.
However if you’re lacking these features, or alone they don’t create enough oomp, remember plants can also provide some structure too.
For instance my slightly makeshift flower beds which are against my scruffy bottom shed, look so much smarter for having a boxed hedge outlining them. You can see how I created the box hedge here.
Without this evergreen hedging, the bed at the moment would look beyond absolutely dreadful. Whereas with it, it doesn’t look perfect (come on it’s against the most ramshackle of sheds!) it looks decent.
Boxing Clever with Lawns
Box also lends itself to topiary shapes beyond hedging. Balls, chickens, cones, mushroom shapes, pyramids – the options are almost endless.
There are definitely possibilities to explore. For instance, imagine how three containers containing different sized box cones, would instantly elevate a plain old lawn and create Winter interest in your garden. Indeed it’s something I may well try, as I don’t have any box in containers at the moment.
As a quick additional thought for your lawns, trimming the edge of your lawns also instantly sharpens the look and makes your garden look more polished in Winter. It’s a bit like hoovering the carpet in your house – makes everything look tidier!
With a box in a pot and a trimmed edge, I think Winter lawns would be elevated into something much more showy.
So my first tip would be to consider some box either as hedging or a shape as a way to create Winter structure in your garden.
Box in Beds and Borders
Box also boosts beds and borders at this time of year. For instance, I don’t cut my plants back much until the Spring. I prefer to leave as much as possible for the birds and creatures to eat or shelter in over Winter. But this nature friendly approach means my beds can look like a brown scruffy mess come December. However, thanks to some box balls, woven into the planting schemes, these borders still have some nice structure at this time of year.
Other Plants for Winter Shape
If left, some plants provide wonderful Winter structure, even when they’re long past their flowering prime. For example, the bank of Sedum Herbstfreude Autumn Joy in my ‘sunny bed’ looks incredible at the moment.
My Annabelle Hydrangeas with the skeletal beauty of their spent flower heads, all in a gently curving line, also look lovely right now.
Other plants working well as a focal point include my bank of Lavender Angustifolia. Although this has been cut back, it still creates a statement as it curves around my shed.
If these were individual plants on their own, the Winter interest from them would be so much less marked. However, the fact I have large drifts of them, really creates Winter wow! So that’s worth bearing in mind.
That said, if you only had room for one of the hydrangeas in a massive pot, that would still create real impact, if the pot was positioned in the right place.
Nature- Friendly Winter Interest in Your Garden
Winter ‘wow’ doesn’t all need to be about sculptured, sophisticated planting. There are some really nature friendly things you can do to create Winter interest in your garden. For instance, my bird table, which my youngest son, Henry, made when he was 9, creates a very pleasing shape and a brilliant focal point on the patio, especially with the bird feeders hanging from it.
You can also create natural features that look good in Winter. For instance, how about a wildlife-friendly log pile with woodland plants and ferns round it? I reckon with a grouping of red-stemmed dogwoods just off to the side, this would look stunning. It’s something I may well try.
If you’re looking for other nature friendly things to do in your garden, you can see my blog on this topic here.
Grasses & Ferns
As I look across my wet and windswept garden, I have to say that the plants still doing their stuff and looking wonderful in Winter are my ferns and grasses. I know that some people aren’t fans, but If you don’t already have these plants, do give them another look.
Ones I’d recommend are Braun’s Holly Fern. It has such lovely fresh green elegant fronds. The plant grows about 70cm tall and will spread 60cm. However I have mine in a pot, planted up with ivy and a grass in a semi-shady spot. This limits its growth. I think the effect is lovely, full and soft – and it looks like this all year round.
Uncinia Rubra is also looking lovely on my patio at the moment. It grows about 30cm tall, and doesn’t like full sun, so a shady or semi-shady spot is ideal. It looks like this all year round. Some people might thing its brown colour makes it a little drab, but in the right pot I think its lovely, and keeps the Winter interest going.
I have this Stipa or Mexican Feather Grass as it’s commonly known, in the sunny bed that encircles my patio and it still works brilliantly in Winter. When all the other ‘floral big shots’ in that bed have died down – phlox, roses, echinacea, astrantia etc – this dear old grass is still there providing movement and softness.
I also have this incredible grass in a pot – I’m not sure what variety it is but it’s blooming gorgeous! I think someone gave it to me which is why I’m a bit stumped about which grass it is. So have a wander around your local garden centre and see what ferns and grasses are still looking interesting. Treat yourself to one – you wont regret it! Whether in your borders or in containers, they will definitely create Winter interest in your garden – and will keep performing for the rest of the year too!
Ivy
Again I know not everyone is a fan of ivy, but I think it can provide a brilliant backdrop to other things – and definitely keeps your garden interesting to wildlife in the Winter! The ivy of my shed means this ‘hot corner’ of my garden still has something to offer even when the red salvia, orange achillea and yellow rock roses have died back. Especially if I keep the colour going with my grasess and by popping a pot or two of primroses in front of the area!
Other Plants to Try
There are plenty of other plants which will create Winter interest in your garden. Here are just a few.
Pittosporum & Daphne
I’ve Pittosporum in a container and that’s still working nicely. I’ve also an evergreen Daphne (some are deciduous so be careful to check). I think my evergreen variety is Rebecca – but I’m not completely sure. However what I do know is that she looks particularly good as she has dark green leaves with a broad yellow margin. She’d provide wonderful Winter interest in any garden, and like the Pittisporum, would also work well in a bed.
Skimmias
Skimmias are another great performer at this time of year. I really like the look of Magic Marlot, again because it has a slighting variegated leaf. That said, I’ve got Skimmia Japonica Rubella in my shady bed. A small, bushy evergreen shrub with dark green, leaves, it produces clusters of red buds in late Winter. I’ve also got a compact variety Skimmia Finchy in a container which I deliberately planted up for Autumn and Winter interest. You can see how I did it – and all the plants I used here
Heathers
Heathers also create masses of Winter interest in your garden. But check your soil conditions as they like acid soil. It’s for this reason that I’ve confined mine to a container.
Indeed a container – like mine – planted with the right skimmia, grass, heathers and a bit of trailing ivy – and strageically placed would instantly boost the Winter look of a patio, the front of a house or the approach to a gateway, or path.
Hellebores etc!
There are so many other plants I could mention here, all the Winter bedding plants, pansies and primroses and of course wonderful Hellebores, which come in so many varieties.
But my advice for adding Winter interest would be to do things in decent-sized swathes. A container rammed full of pansies on your patio will be an inexpensive and quick way to really add impact.
Think From Afar
My final suggestion for adding interest to your Winter garden is to think of your views. You are most likely going to be looking at your garden from the warmth of your home alot over Winter. So a few strategic, larger containers perhaps with shaped box, or some architectural or colourful planting, tactically positioned at key focal points in the garden – will be a quick way to ensure your garden has visual oomph all year round.