Download Gardening Tips- Winter Interest for the Home Garden

Gardening Tips- Winter Interest for the Home Garden
One of the key principles of good landscaping is to provide interest year round.
Too many home gardens or residential landscapes have color in short bursts once or twice
a year. But the truly interesting garden is the one that catches your interest for the entire
year. One way to create interest in your garden is by utilizing flowering plants.
However, plants with uniquely shaped or colored leaves, stems or berries can attract
attention in the garden as well.
Consider this next time you drive down the street to visit your friend or head into
town to run some errands. Look around and see what catches your eye. This time of
year, many landscapes look bare and dormant as many plants have lost their leaves and
warm season lawns have turned brown. But if you notice something that catches your
eye in January, most likely it has great landscape value. Plants such as hollies and
camellias are well known plants that provide some color during winter, but there are
many other less common plants that you can be on the look out for as well.
Wintersweet and winter daphne are great shrubs for color in winter. Wintersweet
(Chiomanthus praecox) is a medium sized shrub with fragrant yellow flowers that
typically flowers in winter or early spring. It is primarily valued for its fragrant blooms
and can be used in flower arrangements. Winter dapne (Daphne odora) is a small shrub
that is also very fragrant, and may have pink, white, or red flowers. It is a great plant
along walkways or other high traffic areas where its fragrance can be enjoyed by those
who pass by.
Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) is an herbaceous perennial that does well in
shady locations such as at the base of a tree. It is evergreen and produces flowers of
many colors during winter. It is very cold hardy and grows as far North as Southern
Canada. My sister-in-law once called me while she was driving through New York in
February and asked me to identify a plant she had just seen in full bloom, which turned
out to be a Lenten rose. She was amazed that anything would flower while there was
snow on the ground.
Many plants can add to the winter landscape without providing any flowers.
Trees with colorful or exfoliating bark such as birches and some crape myrtles remain
interesting after their leaves have fallen. Redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea) is a shrub
form of dogwood quite different then the flowering tree most of us are familiar with. In
winter the stems, which are blood red, stand out over the grays and browns in the rest of
the landscape. Tartarian dogwood (Cornus alba) is similar and has both red and yellow
stemmed varieties.
You may see some of these plants in your neighbor’s gardens, and others you may
have to seek out in a book or on the internet. However, any of the plants mentioned will
grow in Halifax County, and could be a valuable and unique addition to the right
landscape. Think about adding one of these plants or something else to provide interest
in your garden during the winter months.
The signup period for the Master Gardener class beginning February 7th is under
way. Contact the extension office for more information or to reserve a spot.
There will also be a flea market held at the Halifax County Agricultural Center on
Friday, February 3rd from 9 am to 2 pm to benefit the WIA Student Incentive Program.
For more information contact Deborah James at 583-5161 or 583-3684.
Matthew Stevens is the horticulture extension agent for Halifax County Cooperative
Extension. If you have any questions about this article or other aspects of your home
gardening, please contact Matthew at 583-5161 or [email protected].