The Year-Round Landscape: Planting for Winter Wonder
- viridianls
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Someone once told us they hate seeing landscapes in winter. Brown grasses. Twisted trees. Snow-covered branches. They see nature as dull, lifeless, shut down. But a well-planted landscape doesnʼt shut down. It shifts gears, creating new value with structure, sustenance, and pops of color. And if you do it right, your landscape will be just as interesting in January as in July.
Here are some of the seasonal natives that we like using to keep winter vibrant in Eastern PA.
Witch Hazel: Winterʼs Best-Kept Secret
Autumn witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is one of the most underused plants in the winter landscape, often overlooked in favor of showier spring blooms. It blooms in late winter, sometimes as early as January, with cold-hardy, spidery flowers in yellows, oranges, and reds blooming on bare branches, making them impossible to miss. There are native species like Hamamelis virginiana, are hardy up to Zone 3, and hybrid varieties bred for bolder winter color — hardy up to Zone 5. Either way, witch hazel offers low-maintenance, multi-season interest with colorful fall foliage, and wildlife benefits — feeding native birds and butterfly larvae.
Barks and Berries That Offer Beauty and Benefits
Winter interest doesn't stop at flowers and foliage. Some plants reveal colorful barks that become focal points when leaves fall. Red twig dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) is common in Eastern Pennsylvania for its brilliant red stems that seem to explode against snow. Yellow twig dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'), as the name makes clear, is its golden-branched cousin. Both add eye-catching architectural elements to a landscape, but do need to be maintained as the brightest branches are on the younger canes.
Winter berries also add color and feed wildlife. Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata) produces bright red fruit that persists into winter. As does the red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), whose fruits persist through winter, attracting both birds and mammals, including baking-minded humans who enjoy the berries cooked in jams and scones. As an alternative to winter pops of red, northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) offers silver-grey berries that also attract birds and bakers alike while enriching soil with its nitrogen-fixing properties. It also improves erosion — as does fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica). Historically, Myrica pensylvanica's waxy berries were used for candle-making and culinary flavoring, while Native Americans valued Rhus aromatica for its natural astringent properties.
Evergreens and Native Trees Add Structure and Year-Round Appeal
When most people think of winter, they think of evergreens. And yes, evergreens are often the backbone of the winter garden. They provide structure when deciduous plants have dropped their leaves, and they anchor the landscape with consistent color and form.
Broadleaf evergreens such as mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), which are a nice complement to witch hazel, maintain their leaves through winter and often bloom in late spring, extending their value across seasons.
Beyond conifers, sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and red maple (Acer rubrum) provide strong branching architecture in winter with the added benefit of producing maple syrup. The branches of eastern redbuds (Cercis canadensis) may be best known for their early spring flowers, but they also offer striking branch patterns in winter skies. Cercis canadensis was another winter plant highly valued by Native Americans, who used its bark to brew medicinal teas as food, its charcoal for war paint, and its wood for crafts and tools.
Design for All Seasons
The best landscapes don't just peak in spring and fade. They're designed to perform across all four seasons. That means thinking about winter from the start — not as an afterthought, but as an essential chapter in a landscape's story.
It’s also one reason we like creating year-round maintenance plans. It helps our clients choose plants with overlapping interest — pairing witch hazel's late-winter blooms with evergreens that anchor the space year-round, for example. Or adding grasses and berry-producing shrubs for texture and wildlife value. The result is a garden that may be dormant but is never dull.
Winter landscapes don’t need to be bleak. They just need planning for what comes after the last leaf falls.
