Winter Aesthetics of the Garden

It is an undisputed assertion that a garden's winter interest relies on conifers. But perhaps we should challenge this notion?

To begin with, not all conifers retain their summer coloration in winter. Quite a few cultivars of arborvitae and juniper change their winter color to bronze, purple, and brown hues; sometimes one might even wonder: are they still alive? The foliage color of evergreen conifers becomes duller. However, a key virtue of conifers in winter is that they provide structural volume.

What contribution can deciduous shrubs and trees make to the winter landscape?

First is the graphic quality of well-formed or pruned trunks and branches.

Second is the color and texture of the bark. For example, the golden and orange hues of willows; the crimson, purple-red, and greenish-yellow of dogwoods; the glossy, peeling, golden-brown bark of the Maack cherry; the lustrous bark with prominent lenticels of the Japanese cherry; and, of course, birches, maples, cornelian cherries, lindens, and so on.

The next adornment is the fruit remaining on the branches in winter: rowans, crabapples, viburnums, rugosa roses, euonymus, snowberries, pyracanthas, cotoneasters, and barberries. Even the flower buds of the cornelian cherry, set for the coming year, can surprise.

Herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses that retain their structure and volume after drying also contribute to the garden's winter aesthetics. These include liatris, echinacea, rudbeckia, New York asters, sedums, feather reed grasses, miscanthus, veronicas, monardas… A combination of several of these elements will yield the most complete and visually pleasing composition.