I could not let February pass and not profile my favorite winter flowering plant, the witch hazel tree. Yes, I said winter flowering plant. Yes there are plants that bloom in the winter including the Dawn viburnum and Lenten rose. They however, can't compare to the best of the witch hazels when you are facing a cold snow filled winter like we have in the Midwest. … [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...]
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...]