Winter garden ideas: 5 ways to keep colour all season
Shwmae, everyone!
There's something about a grey November morning that makes you want to stay indoors. But a garden doesn't have to look bare until spring. With a few clever choices, you can look out of the window in January and still smile. Here are five ideas to keep colour and structure going all winter.
1. Build a backbone of evergreens
Evergreens are the bones of a winter garden. Once everything else has died back, their shapes hold the whole space together. Euonymus 'Green Spire' makes a neat, upright alternative to box, while Choisya ternata, the Mexican orange, gives you glossy leaves all year and scented white flowers from spring into summer.
2. Brighten the ground with variegated leaves
Low, spreading Euonymus 'Emerald Gaiety' has green and white leaves that brighten shady corners and fill gaps along the front of a border. It's great in pots too, so you can bring a splash of brightness right up to the back door.
3. Add berries for colour (and the birds)
Cotoneaster horizontalis spreads its branches flat against walls and fences, and once its leaves turn red and fall, masses of bright red berries are left behind into winter. Holly is the classic, of course. Both are a welcome winter larder for hungry birds.
4. Go bold with leaves and stems
Big, glossy, hand-shaped leaves bring a touch of the tropics to a Welsh winter. Fatsia japonica is a frost hardy evergreen that's happy in sun or shade. For pure drama, plant the red stems of Cornus alba 'Sibirica', which glow once their leaves have dropped.
5. Play with dark and light
Contrast makes a winter border sing. The near-black, evergreen leaves of black mondo grass look stunning beside silvery or variegated plants, especially in pots by the front door.
A little tip
Plant your winter stars where you'll actually see them: by the path, outside the kitchen window, or near the front door. You'll enjoy them far more than if they're hidden at the bottom of the garden!
All our plants are grown peat-free and without pesticides in Wenvoe. You'll find more inspiration in our plants that grow well in shade and plants for November.
Until next time, happy gardening!
Garden City Cymru