Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Right now in Nashville it's around 45 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill feeling like 35, but just give these pansies a little sun and they look so good. On some other wet very cold day they will retreat and look like something in your compost bin. But they are so worth it when the sun comes out again. And they give us these colors all winter, often lasting into April or May -they don't like a lot of heat. By then you can replace them with the many many choices of annuals available in Spring.

(These pansies are planted in a steel sculpture in very little soil, facing Southeast. They get a half day winter sun. When there's sun. Because they are in a shallow container I do give them occasional water during the fall and winter. Pansies planted in normal beds typically get enough moisture from winter rains and snow to not need supplemental watering.)

A Winter Day

I love tulip poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera (aka yellow poplar, or tulip tree) has a beautiful light green leaf, a unique green and orange flower and in winter gives us shapely seeds. Here's a tulip poplar seed with silver maple (Acer saccharinum) seeds in background. The winter sky and leafless trees give us the opportunity to look at things a little differently. How eye-catching things are in the winter when so much is just reduced to the structure of a view.


It's a great time to see the basics of a yard/garden/street/ landscape.



Look at your yard now to see what the basic frame is...do you like how the trees create boundaries and vertical movement? Are they blocking a nice view of your house, or draping around a beautiful door drawing attention to it? Do you like the contrast of ornamental grasses against evergreen trees and shrubs. You can look now to be thinking about next summer. Even from the comfort of your kitchen or living room window you can look at the yard and think about how you can add some eye appeal. See a nice bank of green laurels or cedars? ...but if they look kinda plain you can underplant or plant in the sight line with some color.

Of course evergreen shrubs and trees as foundation plantings are all that are desired by some. Their advantages are the simplicity and lower maintenance. And with so many varieties of color to choose from even among evergreens, you can create an interesting palette. But there are many winter options for visual show that are not evergreens.
Structure and color are available from many sources.....the beautiful bark of birches and crape myrtles, the flowing tans and yellows of ornamental grasses, red bark and berries, the green dry eucalyptus stems.

There are several winter bloomers and winter color options. Blooming December to February are various species of Helleborus (aka Christmas rose or Lenten rose) and they have nice tough semi-evergreen foliage that looks great all winter; Witch Hazels (Hamamelis virginiana) bloom a subtle yellow in the mid to late winter. Many hollies are producing bright red berries which are more noticeable. Ilex verticillata (winterberry) is a low growing deciduous shrub that has fantastic bright red berries most of the winter. It will highlight and contrast well against the dark green background of evergreens. Also for color : red twig dogwoods (Cornus sericea) , kinda plain-jane much of the year, but then they drop their leaves in fall and the red stems look great against some hollies or a dark painted house. Ornamental grasses are great for white/cream colors and eye-pleasing movement when the wind blows. Don't cut them until mid-February.

It's nice to lounge around and check out the catalogs full of spring and summer blooming plants. It's also comforting to simply enjoy the clarity of winter.