The winter garden

It always makes me a little sad when all the outdoor Christmas lights are put away for the year.  The yard seems bare and plain.  It was sunny and warmer today (above zero!) so I took a walk around the yard and realized that it's full of interesting sights.  Not the bling of Christmas lights, but still beautiful.  Of course it is - I planned it that way!

We in Wisconsin only have five or six months to spend out in our yards.  The rest of the year, the garden can still be enjoyed from the window.  It takes some of the dreariness out of winter days to look out and see something besides solid white. But it takes some planning when it's warm to set your landscape up with winter interest.  This spring, in addition to picking out new plants to try and arranging pots on the deck, think about what you'd like to see out your windows in winter 2016.  Here are some things you might want add to your landscape so that next winter you'll enjoy your yard for all 12 months.

Garden art is instant color and form.  Gazing balls come in so many gorgeous colors.  I want them all!  Bottle trees add a pop of cheerful color.  Unpainted metal sculptures are a more subtle focal point.

This is a driftwood "sculpture".

Sturdy vines like this trumpet vine have a sculptural form in winter.

This crane gets lost amid the summer foliage.  I forget he's there until winter.

A sundial makes an interesting focal point.

Cement scupltures hold up well in our harsh weather.

Not all grasses are hardy in our winters.  Check before you buy.

There are lots of  landscape plants you can enjoy year-round.  If you don't have any hardy tall grasses in your garden, you need some! Plant them in the front yard where you'll see them waving in the wind every time you leave your house or come home.

      

     

River birches look great in winter.  The peeling bark is more apparent when the leaves have fallen.

When you're cleaning up your garden in fall, leave some sturdy perennials standing. 

The flower heads of coneflower and hydrangeas will look good until spring.

If you want to see something green in winter (besides conifers) plant holly or yucca.

For some color, yellow and redtwig dogwoods stand out in the snow.

For subtle winter beauty, add some rock to your garden.  I love how the snow drapes over our rock retaining walls.

  

I didn't notice that I forgot to bring this little guy inside for the winter until I wondered what that thing was sticking out of the snow.  He's going to be upset!

Spring Cleaning

Cleaning up the garden is not the most glamorous of gardening tasks.  There is the old perennial foliage to be pulled out, the layer of soggy leaves, and the shrubs that need to be pruned.  After the winter we've had, I'm so glad to be outside that even these mundane chores seem fun!  Especially since there are so many signs of life under all that debris.

perennial geraniums

             The mystery lilies are 4 inches tall already.

The first flowers of 2014!

If you haven't done the garden clean-up yet, you'll need to get out there very soon.  Tall grasses have to be cut down before fresh growth comes up through last year's dead stalks.  I found a way to make cutting down grasses easier.  I got a new toy - a soil knife.  It's turning out to be the most useful tool I own.  I used to cut down grasses with my electric trimmer.  It's easier with the serrated edge of the soil knife.  I wish I'd had this year's ago!

                                         Fresh growth is already up on these grasses.

Now is also the time to prune summer-blooming shrubs that bloom on new wood.  Spireas, mop-head hydrangeas, Russian sage, ninebark, and potentillas are in this category.

If it blooms in spring, don't prune until after flowering.

I love euonymus.  It needs no care and looks good all the time.  I took this picture today and it will look great until the snow covers it.  If only there were more plants like that!