February 17, 2025

Designing for Winter Interest: A Guide to Vibrant Gardens Year Round

When winter sets in, it’s easy to feel like your garden is in hibernation mode—bare, lifeless, and gray. But with the right planning, your landscape can have winter interest filled with texture and color, even in the coldest months. By pairing trees, shrubs, and perennials, you’ll create a garden that not only looks stunning year-round but also provides essential food and shelter for birds and other wildlife. Let’s dive into how to plan a garden that turns winter’s bleakness into brilliance! 

 

 

Why Combine Shrubs and Perennials for Winter Interest? 

Shrubs provide structure, shelter, and berries for birds during the winter months, while perennials offer seeds, textures, and visual interest to fill in the spaces. Together, they create a layered, biodiverse habitat that looks beautiful and helps wildlife thrive. 

Shrubs often stand tall and strong, forming the “bones” of your winter garden, while perennials soften the edges and add movement with their seed heads swaying in the wind. Combining the two not only creates a balanced and dynamic landscape but also ensures your garden serves as a haven for birds, pollinators, and other critters throughout the year. 

Ornamental Bark: A Winter Focal Point 

To start your winter garden design, focus on trees and shrubs with stunning bark that shines when the leaves are gone. These plants provide year-round beauty and are especially eye-catching in the winter sunlight. 

• Birch and paperbark maple create a dramatic effect with their peeling, textured bark. 

• Japanese maple ‘Sango Kaku’ stands out with fiery red branches that brighten gray winter days. 

• For a burst of color, try red twig and yellow twig dogwoods, whose vivid stems light up the landscape. 

Pair these with shorter perennials to highlight the bark without overwhelming it. Grasses like switchgrass or goldenrod (with its fluffy seed heads) add soft textures around these showy shrubs. 

 

Evergreens: The Backbone of Winter Gardens 

Evergreens anchor the winter landscape, providing a lush green backdrop and much-needed structure. Their sturdy branches not only offer shelter for birds and wildlife but also create a magical scene when dusted with freshly fallen snow, turning your garden into a true winter wonderland. 

• Use tall evergreens like spruce, fir, and pine for dramatic height and year-round privacy. 

• Mid-sized evergreens like arborvitae, juniper, and yew are great for hedges or focal points. 

• For a unique look, try cypress or hemlock with their feathery foliage. 

Layer perennials like Joe-Pye weed, rudbeckia, and liatris in front of evergreens to soften their bold shapes and add winter seed sources for birds. These tall perennials keep their form long after blooming, adding interest and a valuable food source for wildlife. 

 

Broadleaf Evergreens: Year-Round Polish 

Broadleaf evergreens bring glossy, vibrant foliage to the winter garden. They add a sense of fullness and structure, especially in smaller spaces. 

• Boxwood is a classic choice for neat hedges or sculptural shapes. 

• Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica) offers clusters of flowers that emerge in late winter, adding a hint of spring. 

• Japanese holly provides tidy, compact greenery and pairs beautifully with colorful perennials. 

To keep your broadleaf evergreens from looking too formal, surround them with naturalistic plantings of goldenrod, coneflowers, or switchgrass to create a wild, meadow-like vibe that contrasts nicely with their polished appearance. 

 

Winter Berries: A Feast for Birds 

Shrubs and trees with berries are a winter garden must-have. Not only do they provide color and visual interest, but they also offer a vital food source for birds when other resources are scarce. 

• Crabapples and hawthorns bring bright fruit that persists through winter. 

• Winterberry holly and viburnum offer vibrant red or orange berries that liven up the landscape. 

• Cotoneaster, juniper, and bayberry provide long-lasting fruit for birds and add texture to your garden. 

• Snowberry’s frosty white berries are like tiny ornaments on its bare branches. 

Plant berry-laden shrubs near perennials like rudbeckia or helianthus to create a buffet of seeds and fruit for your feathered friends. Together, they form a multi-layered habitat that supports birds all winter long. 

 

Perennials: Texture, Movement, and Seeds 

Perennials are often overlooked in the winter garden, but they play a crucial role in adding texture, movement, and food for wildlife. Their seed heads provide a valuable resource for birds, while their dried stems and leaves bring beauty to the winter landscape. 

• Agastache and liatris offer tall, architectural seed heads that sway gracefully in the wind, but will burst with color in the warmer months. 

• Coneflowers and rudbeckia retain their iconic shapes even after flowering, adding visual interest and seeds for birds. 

• Helianthus and Joe-Pye weed are showstoppers in both summer and winter, with their towering forms creating a strong presence in the garden. 

• Grasses like switchgrass soften the edges of shrubs and trees, while goldenrod provides airy textures that sparkle with frost. 

When combining perennials with shrubs, think about layering. Taller shrubs like winterberry or red twig dogwoods form a striking backdrop, while mid-height perennials like Joe-Pye weed and goldenrod fill in the middle layer. Ground-level perennials like coneflowers and rudbeckia add detail and movement closer to the ground. 

 

Create a Winter Wonderland 

By thoughtfully combining shrubs, trees, and perennials, you can transform your garden into a four-season masterpiece. From colorful bark and evergreen foliage to seed-laden perennials and bright winter berries, there’s no shortage of ways to add beauty and life to your winter landscape. 

Not only will your garden look stunning, but it will also provide critical support for wildlife, creating a space that’s as functional as it is beautiful. Start planning now, and by the time the colder months roll around, you’ll have a garden you can enjoy from the warmth of your window—or bundled up outside with binoculars in hand, watching the birds! 

Come visit us at any of our 7 locations or check out our online store to pick up the building blocks for winter interest in your garden!