Winterblooming sasanqua camellias.

Azaleas, Junipers, Hollies, Periwinkle, Pachysandra. my favorite winter flowers are the Johnny Jump-ups!
-Susan

A small hedge of Ilex 'China Boy'-'China Girl'. Plus a hedge of Japanese holly, Ilex crenata. Working on a hedge of Berberis vulgaris 'Royal Cloak'. All in progress, as plants are medium size now.

Leveling the front lawn and building a stone wall to separate the lawn and wall from the front woods.

My herbs make a huge difference. I can enjoy their foliage all winter and they offer color and texture to the winter bones of my NW garden. My rosemary is one of the first herbs to bloom in my garden and is such a delight.

Golden evergreens like euyonomus japonica microphylla (Butterscotch Euyonomus) are beautiful in the winter landscape. Also I planted a nandina 'domestica' (Heavenly bamboo) this summer and it is georgeous in the winter...bright red foliage with red berries! It makes looking outside in the garden a lot nicer in Zone 7.

Started my yard from scratch last summer & living in a climate where deciduous plants are bare 5 mos. of the year, decided that one of the most important criteria for my new plantings needed to be winter interest. Nandina survives beautifully next to the south wall of my house; various Hawthornes have berries (still attached) from pink to red/orange; ornamental grasses - miscanthus, feather grass(Karl Foerster), stipa, blue fescue; Spanish broom; evergreen sedums; kinnikinnick; 2 yews & 2 hardy boxwoods. I plan to add many more evergreen groundcovers this spring. It's a real treat to look out into the wintry landscape & see touches of green & grasses waving in the breeze!

When I lived in the mid-Willamette Valley (OR) I had the most success with crucifers and alliums. Leeks were easy to over-winter, and purple and white sprouting broccoli were a cinch. I had cabbage stand until the end of December. I had no success with cauliflower (eaten by slugs) and brussel sprouts (sprouts didn't size up).

Hi, Denverdawn. What is kinnikinnick?

I thought I'd jump in here since I have this one too. Kinnikinnick, other common name bearberry, is ARCTOSTAPHLOS UVA-URSI a low growing native groundcover with red berries. It's great because it's not invasive. They have a description and pic on this site: http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/shrubs/arctouvaursi.html.
Yeona

Kinnikinnick is a great plant, but in my garden the berries are gobbled up almost as soon as they ripen. Fine for the wildlife, but not so decorative.

The cotoneaster, berberis and hollly berries last much longer. Also the euonymus berries. And the cedar berries, until the cedar waxwings descend. Got some bayberry, wintergreen and lily-of-the-valley berries too. I do love berries (but I can't take credit for all of them).

Claire

My most successful winter planting is the mental one I am planning and rearranging by the fire, surrounded by seed and nursery catalogues.

The one in the linked photo turned out pretty well also, though less for what I did than what I didn't do.

Here is a link that might be useful: a perfect storm

Just in case you are interested, they are talking about different types of Kinnikinnick in the perennials forum under the thread, "plants that had surprised you for their unsuspected hardiness". I really have to learn how to link!
Yeona

Here it is. Look at the last few posts.

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: Plants that had surprised you...

My Parrotia persica tree planted in 1991 took three years before showing its colors much but each year now is more glorious. It colors late fall here most years but this year waited until after Christmas and a light snowfall early this month to turn butterscotch with touches of crimson. Just lights up the whole back garden. jo

My most successful winter planting is a pretty purple flower that is blooming now at the end of February. When it first starts to open up, it looks a little like a purple rose. Then it opens to a more daisy-like shape with a fuzzy edged center. The leaves are fern-like. I have no idea what it is or where I got it. Can anyone tell from my description?

Nattala - Is this a shrub? perennial? And how large is it?

Nattala, is it a hellebore?
My witchhazel "Diane" is in bloom right now next to the Cornus "Winterbeauty" with its yellow stems turning red at the tip and the Longstalk hollies are dripping red berries against the evergreen leaves... that is some of it...winter gardening is one of my favorites so I have alot of plants I consider successful in the winter but many are too small to brag about yet...

Loretta - Is your Cornus 'Winterberry' a tree or a shrub? I've been admiring a wonderful yellow barked shrub that I pass on my way to work.

Hi, Bill!

Where did you get your 'Royal Cloak' barberry?

Evelyn

Nattala,This sounds like Pasque flower to me.Almost like a low growing poppy type look to it ?They flower early and like full sun and very sharp drainage.I believe the latin name is Pulsatilla Vulgaris.

Without a doubt, Kale--looks beautiful when the sky is gray and there is no snow.
Here in Southern Illinois, I also have GREAT luck with
Spinach. In fact, since I have a huge garden and always
have plenty of spinach and Kale to eat, it is nice to see
the various animals in our rural setting munching on the greens too.

I'm also trying a new cover crop this year on my 50' X 60'
garden: oats. They are about 5 inches tall and EXTREMELY
healthy looking and lush.

K.B.

There's not a window in my house that doesn't afford beauty for me. From the ilex verticilata 'winter red' from the oversized living room window which is just stunning all winter, and which also avails a scene of kalmia 'redbud' and numerous lepidote rhodies. Then there's the oak leaf hydrangea which is handsome in winter with it's flower panicles. To my mbr and looks out the north window of beautybush, skimmia or the other windows in the mbr that afford looks at the seed pods of redbud or that prostate elipidote rhodie that's 30 years old and is probably 6' wide. Family bay window affords looks at ilex pudunculosa (sp) as well as various kalmia, rhodies, 4-5 hollies (China girl/boys as well as American holly all fully berried along with cedar.

Siting of plants always takes into consideration views that will be afforded from the house.

Hi everyone!

I just discovered this forum. It's just what I'm looking for:) For years, I have only dreamed of a winter garden. I live on the corner of a busy street with no privacy fence. In winters past, there was no 'garden.'

Last year, I planted an espalier of apple trees in the pattern of a Belgium Fence parallel to the city sidewalk on either side of the walk that leads to my front door. Between the apples and the public sidewalk are 30+ roses. This fall, between the apples and the house, I started raised beds for herbs. The design is incomplete, but already an improvement. The finished result will be a private courtyard for my family to enjoy all year. I am very interested in planning for its winter beauty! Already, the apple trees and bricks of the herb beds look very nice in the snow:)

Regards,
PP

My hellebores never disappoint me. Right now they are finishing up with their lush winter growth and they will bloom in a month or so.
My Nandina ( heavenly bamboo) is tall and hs lots of red berries.
Arrum Italicum just started coming up and has lovely green leafs for my winter pleasure.
Lastly, my grape holly is getting ready to bloom for the very first time for me.
Mary from Gainesville, GA

- Mahonia media "Charity" in full bloom right now - what lovely yellow flowers! Next to a light pink camelia, already opening some flowers. In the back, pink daisies with yellow centres - unites the whole scheme. Seems like a vision of Spring at Christmas.

- Viburnum opulus with leaves turning burgundy next to viburnum tinus, evergreen leaves and white flowers at the moment. Very sofisticated.

- Shocking pink cyclamen surrounded by white and pink heather and pink azaleas.

- Berried hollies next to variegated osmanthus, viburnum tinus and berried cotoneaster.

- A container with strawberry tree (arbutus unedo), eleagnus pungens ´Maculata´, variegated ivy and red poinsettia. What could be more Christmassy?

For me it´s like painting a picture. Who said Winter was a dull season in the garden?

Eduarda

My hollies, dwarf pines and other evergreen shrubs and small trees, mixed in with the dried clumps of miscanthus grass for texture and contrast. Love the look.

Also, cold-hardy bamboos that stay green even in the rottenest winter cold and wind. I look out and see the green bamboos swaying in the winter breeze, and it almost fools me into thinking it's summer.

I always over-seed with annual rye grass around our half acre catfish pond and anyplace else I want to see green throughout winter. Then I plant hundreds of pots and beds with bright colorful Pansies that keep color going from Nov. through March when I then change over to summer annuals. I designed my 10 acres so that you would be hard pressed to tell that winter does come here, too. If you need the 'real' color green and not that dark gray-green some evergreens get in winter, use bamboo as it stays true green. B.

A combo I´ve tried for the first time this year, with stunning results. Hardenbergia climber on the wall, grevilea rosmarinifolia in front, cineraria maritima and anemones de Caen as a border. The colours of the anemones (violet/bluish and red) match exactly the colours of the flowers of the hardenbergia and grevilea. The cineraria is a silvery white and glows in the middle of these strong colours.

What a nice way to cheer up a February day. Happy Valentine!

Eduarda

Eduarda, you are breaking my heart. It is raining, snowing, blowing and sleeting here on one of the most miserable days imaginable. If there were a way to be transported from here to your lovely garden I'd be there in a trice.

Rebecca

It is brutal here today with sleet, blowing winds and Arctic-like temperatures. At the entrance to the rustic stone walk that leads to the front door is a wonderfully bright shrub, Cornus sanguineum 'Winter Beauty'. The bare branches drifted in with the white of frozen precipitation are a flaming blend of yellow, orange and red! It is an exceptional cultivar of Red Twig Dogwood.

Oh my God, Rebecca, I didn´t want to break your heart, lol! I just thought that those of you trapped in a severe Winter (and I´ve seen on the news how bad a Winter the States are having), would appreciate some nice Winter combo.

Actually, we are having a pretty miserable Winter ourselves too. After a series of mild and rainy months, we had a week of Arctic cold in January which burned all the gardens in my surroundings. My garden is quite sunken and therefore protected, but even so I lost all my sub tropical plants - hibiscus, datura, hedychium, and the others took quite a beating as well. It was heart breaking. The combo I described survived these temperatures and cheered me up - quite surprising actually, because both the hardenbergia and the grevilea are Australian natives.

Hope your weather improves. Today we have a miserable wet, cold and rainy day as well and the towns up North are shutdown due to snow...

Eduarda

Eduarda,
I'm so sorry about your losses. We do get a heart investment in our lovely plants as well as time and money investments. How nice that something survived to cheer you up.

Rebecca

I made some major changes to my garden in fall just because of winter. Here in the Colorado mountains, dull brown is the color for a good seven months. Why not put the energy and creativity into keeping those seven months green? My girlfriend thought I was nuts and obsessed. I was. Now, in the middle of February, I can look out at the mini-Christmas trees of dwarf Alberta Spruce in the denuded flowerbed, along with the pointy crisp leaves of mahonia and a sparkly Blue Star Juniper. Dwarf mugo pines anchor the small white-barked apsen tree. The small "Bakerii" blue spruce near the cedar fence matches the hues of the pincushion Blue Fescue grass "sea urchin." Against the jumble of rocks in a dry-stacked wall, a ball-shaped daphne pose a striking sihouette and waits for spring. In the dry xeric broder, native banana-leaf yucca provides an architectural element against the contorted branches of a dwarf siberian pea shrub and a Round-leaf Buffaloberry (Shepherdia rotundifolia), a wondergul evergreen -- or should I say ever-silver -- plant from the high-desert Colorado Plateau. It has fuzzy greenish-silver leaves on pipe-cleaner fuzzy white stems. In my driveway hellstrip, I was totally surprised at how dark red succulents can become in sunshine: hens & chicks, hardy iceplants and dragons blood sedum. Kinnikinnick is a cool ground cover, too.

I went overboard with my purchases last year. But I just could bear the thought of a dead-looking, boring garden waiting for warm weather. Other than monkeying with the perennial bed, all of my gardening effort was specifically geared to create a winter-early spring show. Seems kind of nuts. There I was in the middle of summer, fussing and planning out a display for October thru May. The good thing about winter gardens to suplement summer gardens: angst and longing year-round, not just in springtime!

My failures: Thinking holly would grow along a shaded fence (It's too hot and dry here... all plants were dead by July.) Expecting Feather Reed Grass to not be flattend by snowfall. It looks marginal but next week, it's getting the ol' early spring crew cut. The winter hardy cactus may have received too much winter moisture. Time will tell on that.

Even though the winter garden looks good, I still love summer and can't wait until the flowers start doing their thing!