How to Create an Attractive Winter Landscape

Are you dreading the thought of having a drab winter scene in your yard next winter? When the snow comes are you a bit worried your property will look too boring? It doesn't have to be. There are numerous landscaping ideas you can incorporate so that your property this winter stands out in a myriad of ways. Simply follow the guidelines below to have a dramatic landscape worth admiring throughout the cold winter months.

First, when considering a winter scene, there are two most important things to keep in mind:

1) Short trees or plants are not wanted because snow could cover them up; so always pick plants that will reach up and beyond any blankets of snowfall.

2) You will want birds to be attracted to your property to make things interesting; so you will need some fruit-bearing plants or trees.

Those are the two main rules you'll need to develop a great winter landscape.

Popular winter trees are of course important for providing you with an overall theme or "skeleton" for your winter scene. Evergreen conifers such as junipers, spruce, pines, and arborvitae, are usually the most popular. Simply choose the trees that go together well for you, or that give you an overall theme. But keep in mind that the bark of the tree is important for adding a special zest to your winter landscape - when the bark is unusual or appealing in some manner, your winter landscape will look much better. River birch, paper bark maple, yellow and red twig dogwood, these trees will provide you with many appealing bark qualities. Birch trees have especially attractive bark; for example, the river birch type has bark that sheds and is sure to stand out. If you want color in your bark, look for tree and shrub types such as Japanese maple, shrub dogwoods, and burning bush.

With plants or shrubs, things get a little more complicated. There are three main points to keep in mind:

1. The plant needs fruit that will attract birds, (birds always brings a winter scene to life).

2. The branches should be able to hold snow in an attractive way.

3. The shrubs should have plenty of color to make them stand out.

Before listing some plants with these features, consider the first rule above and remember that the fruit will eventually hit the ground and little seedlings will grow. So be prepared to deal with any resulting mess.

Winterberry holly is an excellent addition to your yard in winter since it bears fruit that will bring the birds in droves. Some experts consider it to be the best plant for the month of December. Although winterberry is deciduous (it loses its leaves), this only improves its bird-attracting qualities since the berries will be easier to see and richer looking among the white snow. Winterberry holly will even attract songbirds.

Cranberry bush viburnum is also great since it produces swarms of red berries that birds can live on during the winter months. Christmas holly is another popular choice because of its bright berries. For different colors, try chokeberry with its black berries, and callicarpa with its purple berries. The Washington hawthorn has fruit that lasts all through the winter, while sumac has clusters of berries. China holly is a nice choice as well, as is evergreen holly, which retains its foliage all year long. Any kind of bright berry shining amidst the shedding bark of a tree in the background with a layer of white snow beneath it will be highly attractive.

You may consider adding some yew shrubs to your property as well -- they have red berries and green needles. But if you add yew shrubs, make sure there are no children around to go around them because both the foliage and the berries are highly poisonous.

You can also include various ornamental grasses to your winter landscape. Plume grass is a perennial that is attractive since it catches snow in its delicate shafts. Maidengrass is also a good choice for winter; it grows as much as seven feet tall and has seed heads that are copper-colored in the early fall, with puffy-looking plumes that are quite attractive. Other types of cold tolerant perennial grasses are blue oat grass, lilyturf (which is deer-resistant), and northern sea oats grass.

Seed pods can look good in winter landscapes also. But you must get the right types of plants or the pods can seem too dried out looking and hollow. The black alder plant has attractive seed pods, while catalpa has unusually long pods. Buttonbush, the Japanese pagoda tree, honeylocust, red bud, and linden are a few others with attractive seed pods worth looking into.

The form of your plants, the way they are shaped, is also important for adding to the overall appearance of a winter landscape. A few plants with more unusual or interesting 'architectures' are bald cypress, and pagoda dogwood (it has horizontal branches); Weeping mulberry, and the corkscrew willow (it has branches that twist). Also young's weeping birch has drooping branches that collect snow and look very nice, and Alaska false cypress is an attractive plant with foliage that droops.

So there you have a list of plants and trees you can explore to find out which are most attractive for your purposes. You don't have to let your yard be drab in the winter, simply add the right landscaping methods and you can enjoy an abundance of color, splendor, and seasonal happiness all through the year.