Four Seasons of Color...Really? Part IV

This is the fourth installment in a five-week series of short articles designed to help you bring year-round color to your yard. Planning a landscape can be a daunting task--we hope that this series can help offer some suggestions for planning your yard. Check our blog weekly for the latest installment--and enjoy!  

Winter--that wonderful time of year when you can put away your hoe, rake and garden gloves and kick up your feet indoors. No mowing to worry about, no weeds to pull...and often, nothing to admire out your window. It's sad, really, that some people forget to plan for winter color--after all, with short days, long nights and an abundance of rain, it's the time when you could use the most help to stave off depression!

'Sango Kaku' Coral Bark Japanese Maple

Admittedly, there aren't a lot of options for winter color in your yard--not compared with spring or summer. But there still is plenty you can do to make the winter season interesting in your flowerbeds. Here are a few plants I've chosen for my yard that do just that:

Winter

• Coral Bark Japanese Maple (branches turn bright red after first frost and hold color through winter)
• Heuchera (perennial that holds its leaves through winter; leaves turn to purple, red, and orange shades in cold weather)
• Kramer's Red Heather (buds open in mid- to late-November and bloom through winter)
• Little Heath Pieris (variegated foliage stands out in bleak winter weather) 

Like I've said before, these lists are not at all comprehensive. Other variegated plants like 'Goshiki' vareigated false holly would be a great evergreen addition to your yard to enjoy in winter. And speaking of holly...well, like I said, there are plenty of other options. Check out what winter-interest plants might work in your yard with a visit to Vander Giessen's!


Next week, we'll wrap up with a great list of not-to-be-forgotten evergreens for your yard. Some of the plants I've listed for each season are evergreen, but don't miss out on the plants in next week's list--you'll need them to provide structure to your yard and help create the balance you're trying to achieve.