The Best Way To Enhance Your Landscaping In The Winter

Winter can be a dull time of year when it comes to landscaping. For many, it means watching our colorful outdoor spaces disappear under a frozen blanket of snow that inevitably turns muddy, dingy, and gray. It can render your home’s curb appeal virtually nonexistent, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Landscaping in the wintertime isn’t just possible; it’s brilliant. With just a few changes, you can vastly improve the beauty of your home’s outdoor appearance year-round.

So, what are the secrets to creating a wintertime landscape wow factor? Here are some terrific ways to get started.

Go Evergreen

Much vegetation surrounding our homes is seasonal, but not all plants die off or lose color when the weather turns cold. Evergreens are a superb choice to add a vibrant pallet of color to your landscape that doesn’t fade away, and we aren’t just talking about shades of green. Evergreen trees, shrubs, and grasses also come in blue, gold, red, and even purple hues. They often produce brightly-colored berries and attractive cones for even more visual contrast.

Another great aspect of evergreens is that they come in many shapes and sizes. And perhaps best of all, they keep their foliage throughout the winter, so trees and bushes remain lush and full. Did you ever wonder why evergreens don’t freeze or lose their leaves like so many other plants? It’s a pretty neat trick. They’ve got high concentrations of dissolved substances coursing through their vascular systems called cryoprotectants that act like antifreeze. This substance lowers the freezing point of water in their cells and helps to protect their cell structures, thus keeping their metabolism functioning normally even in frigid temperatures.

Think Perennially

Perennials, like evergreens, have great staying power as winter approaches and can provide transitional colors to keep your landscape alive and glowing. Dogwood, hyssop, and camellia are attractive options. Some flower varieties bloom in winter or hold their blossoms for a long time. Pansies, violas, snapdragons, nemesia, cyclamen, and sweet asylum are additions to a dreary yard.

Show Us Your Bark

Yes, your deciduous trees lose their foliage when Old Man Winter comes calling, but that doesn’t always have to be bad. As the lines of your trees become more prominent, it’s the ideal time to emphasize those limbs in a way that accentuates your home’s architecture. You can trim branches to make them more aesthetically pleasing, but more importantly, you can also bring some attention to a part of the tree that might not get much love otherwise, the bark.

The key is choosing the right trees. Many ornamentals have visually stunning bark patterns. The paperbark maple, for instance, has a beautiful, copper-colored rhytidome with a rippled, peeling texture that is delightful to look at even after it drops its brilliant red leaves in the fall. Others that come to mind include the cherry-red stems of the vine maple, the bonsai-like growth patterns of the chocolatey manzanita, and the unique mottled bark of the lacebark pine. When you incorporate some of these well-dressed gems into your landscape, you create a wintertime display to dazzle the eye, no leaves required.

Emphasize Your Hardscaping

While your softscaping may take a winter wallop, hardscaping is another innovative way to add pizzazz to your landscape that holds up. Hardscaping includes the inorganic features surrounding your home that complement your vegetation. Materials like stone, brick, clay, plaster, and metal bring a decorative flair to your home’s exterior, adding pops of color, focal points, and visual emphasis where you need it most. It might be something as significant as a structural wall or walkway or as simple as a few colorful pots around your exterior. No matter what your vegetation is doing, the hardscaping can create permanence and elegance in your outdoor décor.

Get Creative

Your creativity can go a long way toward beautifying your winter landscape, too. Whimsical, unusual pieces can make a remarkable difference. Cloth accents like flags are a great way to show your personality and patriotism. To add stylish appeal, you can also incorporate eye-catching ornaments like wind chimes, sun catchers, spinners, sculptures, and statuary. How about a series of colorful birdhouses strategically placed in your trees? We aren’t saying to break out the pink flamingos but have some fun with it.

Get Started

If you live within the GTA, you don’t have to tackle that bleak yard space alone. Luke’s landscaping is ready and waiting to assist you. Nobody knows landscape design better than we do, and our friendly, knowledgeable specialists would love to help you bring your frozen landscape to life, even in the middle of winter. Contact us today, and let’s get started.