Ornamental grasses have gone from making me roll my eyes during a dinner conversation (see my About page) to a perennial I am looking for a spot in my yard to plant more. The particular grass, I am writing about is commonly called Switch grass (Panicum virgatum). … [Read more...]
Front Yard Design for Winter Interest part 2 of 2
Last time, I began to show how winter garden design principles could be used in an actual design. Now we will complete that simple front yard design I started in Part 1. … [Read more...]
Front Yard Design for Winter Interest part 1 of 2
Today, I would like to show how some of the winter garden design principles I talked about in my last post could be used. I figured the best way to show this is to do a front yard design using these winter garden design principles. … [Read more...]
Winter garden design principles plus six tips
In a past post I talked about how to add interest to your winter landscape, such as adding trees with interesting bark. Now I want to talk about principles for enhancing your winter garden design. … [Read more...]
Garden Structures for Four Season Interest
The importance of garden structures in a winter garden cannot be overemphasized. In the dormant season, the lower sun and overcast skies dull the limited colors of the landscape. … [Read more...]
Two plants with red winter stem color
Winter officially begins on December 21st. Ugh, now I am depressed!. Gray, dull, and dark are the words that often come to mind when describing the winter landscape we live in here in the Midwest. Well at least after the holidays are over and the Christmas lights are all taken down (except for that one neighbor that leaves them up till Labor day (you know who you are!). … [Read more...]
Architectural plants for winter gardens
I would like to continue the discussion of adding winter season interest to your garden. In this post I will discuss of the use of architectural plants. This was suggestion #4 on my post a couple of weeks ago. … [Read more...]
Adding winter interest to your landscape
When designing a landscape for four season interest in the Midwestern United States, you must make planning for the winter season a priority. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way. When I first started landscaping my own yard over a decade ago, I realized you needed evergreens to provide interest in all seasons. I just did not realize how many evergreens you needed. So I got a few dwarf conifers like bird’s nest spruce and a Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii). I then went on and … [Read more...]
