Your landscape palette doesn’t have to be white and gray with no end in sight during winter. Although most plants are at rest, you can still maintain a beautiful, vibrant garden throughout the cold season. By carefully planning your backyard landscape design you can identify which curb-appeal boosting elements to include to make your home stand out within your neighborhood.
Decorate Your Landscape with Winter Containers
Flowers, branches, and boughs in various containers, such as tubs, pots, and half barrels create interest in place of a dormant garden. This is ideal for gardens with small spaces, but it also works well with larger landscapes. Container gardening also offers versatility because you can move them to different areas to match the architecture of your home.
Placing a pair of matching containers on the front walk of your property, for instance, gives your home a decoration that says “Welcome!”. You can combine small and large containers to create depth in your landscape. Containers in various colors also add appealing details to the space.
Take advantage of these arrangements to brighten up your landscape. They aren’t only designed for the ground, because you can also find window boxes and hanging baskets to maximize the impact of you containers.
Choose Hardy Plants and Fresh-Cut Boughs
Not all container plants survive extreme cold. But those that do can enhance the look of your outdoor display. When choosing winter container plants, make sure they are hardy — at least two zones colder than your location based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Zone. The agency has a helpful Plant Hardiness Zone Map so you can determine which plants would thrive in your area. This map uses the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones.
Creating outdoor containers includes gathering “summer leftovers” from your garden. Collect colorful stems, dried seed heads and pods, and plumes from your landscape. Determine the kind of greenery and cuttings you have and prepare them for the project.
Just like warm season containers, your outdoor winter containers should be made up of the three following elements:
- Thrillers – these are the centerpieces that serve as the focal point of the container. Examples of thrillers include white birch trunk, dogwood stems, willow stems, and tall, upright, and compact evergreens.
- Fillers – these elements give your winter container a full look. They can be anything as long as they fill the blank spaces in your container. Fillers may include Hydrangea Annabelle dry flowers, Magnolia branches with leaves, ferns, and dry perennials, among others.
- Spillers – these are the elements that spill over the sides of the container. Branches that arch naturally are ideal spillers to soften the edges of the container. Spillers can be soft pine branches, white cedar, and junipers.
If you want to highlight vibrant colors, a solid evergreen background will do the trick. You can also add other colors that complement the main color you’re trying to emphasize. If your thriller is red twig dogwood, for example, put it against a green background where its scarlet stems would stand out.
The “Golden Sword” yucca, meanwhile, complements the dogwood for its lemon-yellow foliage. You can add fillers with a similar color to the dogwood to further highlight the red hues.
In case you’re afraid your outdoor containers will be covered with snow, opt for strong architectural forms so they can stand out despite the weather. Green mountain boxwood is an excellent option for this project. It has simple lines, making it prominent in nearly any background. Pair the boxwood with contrasting sizes, shapes, and colors to enhance the appearance of the container.
Invest in Durable Outdoor Containers
Anything can be a container for your plants, from laundry baskets to clamshells, but that doesn’t mean it will give you the effect you are striving for. You have to be critical when choosing a container, because the materials can affect the health of your plants and in winter the container makes as much of a statement as what goes into it.
Since your containers will spend most of their time outdoors during the cold season, they should be able to withstand extreme cold. Terra cotta pots, for instance, are not an ideal material for winter containers as they break easily. Instead, choose containers made with weather-resistant materials, including:
- Iron
- Fiberglass
- Heavy plastic
- Stone
These materials are extremely durable and can withstand extreme temperature. They tend to be heavy, too, making it hard to tip over. Fortunately, you don’t need to move your containers come winter because they can stay outside for the entire season.
Work with Landscaping Professionals
Creating outdoor winter containers is fun. Unless you’re an experienced gardener, working on this project on your own is also prone to mistakes that might lead to wasting your resources. To avoid that, consider working with professional landscapers to give your home a colorful landscape during winter.
Landscaping professionals have the expertise and experience in making winter containers to make your landscape more beautiful. They are knowledgeable of the kinds of plants ideal for the project, color pallets and texture, and how to keep them thriving throughout winter.
Professional landscapers also deliver multiple services. They can collect the thrillers, filler, and spillers for you, saving you the time and stress. You wouldn’t have to worry about lifting heavy plant containers, too, because they usually have the equipment to make the task easier. They can also arrange the containers properly to make them more eye-catching.
Landscapes Unlimited helps you make the most of your landscape regardless of the season. Our team of landscaping experts will help create a plan that will keep your landscape full of life this winter. We will assist you through the entire process, from finding the suitable garden materials that match your aesthetic to the completion of the project.
Additionally, we deliver impressive craftsmanship that meets and satisfy your taste and standards. Our output would also help increase the marketability of your property in case you decide to sell it. Having a beautiful, well-maintained curb appeal makes your home more attractive to potential buyers.
Contact us for free estimates.
