If you’re like many homeowners, your landscaping endeavors come to a screeching halt between the first frost of fall and the eventual thaw-out of spring. But there’s no need to sacrifice a beautiful yard just because the weather has gotten chilly!
If you’re interested in growing winter flowers and plants to improve the look of your home and bring you joy, here are some winter landscaping ideas to try.
Embrace Evergreen Trees
There are few things more stunning than an evergreen tree covered with snow in the winter. While other trees change colors and lose their leaves in the fall, evergreens keep looking bright and healthy all winter long. And not all evergreens look the same! You can get a range of colors with a blue spruce or a gold thread false cypress and even get some variety with succulents and cacti that are hearty winter plants.
Add Some Color with Berries
You might not have a garden full of brightly colored flowers in the winter, but you can add some color to your yard with plants that grow festive berries. Holly with berries and crabapples are good examples of how to brighten up your landscape when it’s cold outside. As an added bonus, plants with berries attract birds that you can watch from your window while staying warm and cozy inside.
Add a Tall Perennial Grass
Many tall grasses do great as winter plants, such as dianthus. When you visit a local garden store, read the labels or ask the staff to learn about tall grasses that have year-around foliage. Plume grass is also hearty and can grow up to 11 feet tall and four feet wide to cover bare spots around your property.
Try Shrubs for Texture
Low to the ground and able to withstand the cold, shrubs are great additions to winter landscaping. Yew shrubs are a good example and a favorite outdoor plant around the holidays. You can also achieve a beautiful ground cover with a Siberian carpet cypress, which turns a coppery-purple color in the winter. Other low-lying plants for winter include Ophiopogon and Geranium “Rozanne.”
Use Non-Plant Focal Points for Interest
While there are plenty of winter plants to focus on in your yard, don’t forget about yard and garden features that aren’t alive to serve as focal points. Rock gardens, benches, and sculptures add instant interest to your landscape without ongoing maintenance or worrying about the weather. You can also add interest to your landscape with decorative lighting. Although these hard structures require an initial investment, they will last you for many years and offer countless winter days of enjoyment.
Keeping Winter Landscaping Looking Great
There’s no denying that winter landscapes require extra care to keep looking good, which is why it’s beneficial to know your agricultural zone and select plants based on that to ensure they grow well. Winter plants still need to be watered regularly, and lawns should be raked to remove debris that collects over the winter. Other winter landscaping tasks to keep up with include fertilizing before the first freeze, mulching for insulation, winterizing sprinkler systems, and pruning dead branches.
Get Help with Your Winter Landscaping Ideas
If all of this sounds a little too tedious, time-consuming, or just unpleasant to keep up with on cold days, Household Staffing International can help. We can connect you to a professional property caretaker who specializes in landscaping to handle all of the planting, upkeep, and design for you this winter. Not only can property caretakers take care of your winter plants and flowers, but they can also make household repairs when something breaks, remove snow and ice from the driveway and sidewalks, hang and take down festive holiday decorations, and watch over your home while you’re traveling for the holidays.
To learn more about how the process of hiring a landscaping professional works, call us at 212-683-7722. Or if you’re ready to start your search, fill out our online form today!