Now that winter has stripped much of the foliage and fluffiness out of our gardens, some of us are in for a rude surprise. Without the bounteous growth of spring and summer, all the most uninspiring parts of our patch take centre stage. This can be a season of yawning gaps and dark corners.
Winter gardens are often lauded for revealing their bare bones, for making their underlying framework plain to see. But, sometimes, not much of a framework comes to the fore.
While paths, pergolas and other built elements can all help create permanent definition, one of the best ways to keep things interesting through the coldest months is to ensure you have enough evergreen plants.
Evergreen shrubs, grasses and succulents can all create year-round structure, especially when the froth of summer has gone. By repeating the same plant in different areas across your garden you can also add a sense of rhythm and cohesion.
But stringing those plants together works as well. Hedges don’t have to be of the hulking, view-blocking variety. They don’t even have to be straight. Curving, thigh-high hedges can be structural focal points that guide the eye through a garden all year long.
Shrubs, succulents and grasses have the added benefit of taking only a couple of years to create a visual impact. Plant them now and their roots will start getting established before the hot and dry conditions of summer, making them more resilient in the years ahead.
Here’s what else you can do to bring life to your garden this winter.
Embrace the grey
Going grey can provide an uplifting contrast to both the tawny tones of winter and the fresh greens of spring. They are also especially tough in the face of our increasingly unpredictable climate. Correa alba, Eremophila nivea, Westringia fruticosa, Teucrium fruticans and Eucalyptus pulverulenta can all be turned into either punchy individual focal points or more continuous forms that will cut a dash across your garden even in the depths of winter.
Go to a garden centre and you can find all sorts of other suitable shrubs with compact growth habits – but you will have to work at it too. Regular tip pruning is essential to maintain the tight structure, and to keep these plants in scale with rest of your garden.
Alternatively, silver succulents, such as Cotyledon orbiculata will also maintain a strong presence through winter – and provide late winter flowers to boot – but keep a tight rein on them to make sure they don’t crowd out their less-robust neighbours.
Follow your nose
Scent adds another dimension to gardens, especially when these plants are in places that you regularly brush up against, like alongside paths, scattered through seating areas or below windows that might allow the fragrance to waft indoors.
Lemon-scented tea tree, native mint bush, lavender and Murraya paniculata are just some of the options that can be turned into focal points for both the eyes and nose. By choosing a range of aromatic plants you can create a framework that provides scent 12 months of the year.
Choose convenience
Potted shrubs, succulents and grasses can be a convenient option for balconies and other paved spaces, also because they have the added benefit of being portable. Move them to wherever flat, shapeless spots open up.
By keeping the containers uniform, you can keep the mood cohesive. For an especially architectural look, succulents such as Yucca rostrata, Dasylirion wheeleri and Nolina nelsonii have relatively rigid forms that look striking through winter. Bigger containers provide for more root growth and thereby more above-ground drama, but smaller containers are more moveable.
Never underestimate grasses
Grasses and sedges can create year-round structure too, especially if you want a lighter, looser framework that sways in the wind. You can also choose the colour to suit.
The bronze-orange Carex testacea, the silver-blue Poa labillardieri “Suggan Buggan” and the lime-green Lomandra Tanika are just some of the evergreen grasses and grass-like plans that can be used to create relaxed structure.
Unlike deciduous grasses, which need to be cut close to the ground annually, evergreen grasses need to be only rid of dead leaves and given a more general trim every few years when they start to get either too tatty or too big.
And make use of your clippings
Some of the most striking framework plants are not actually alive. Removed branches, stems and other dead plant material can be weaved into sculptural focal points that also provide habitat for wildlife. Drive two parallel rows of stakes into the ground and thread between them whatever you are cutting back. Dead hedges can be a sculptural winter focal point, compost heap and haven for beneficial birds and insects rolled into one.
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