Winter is the best time for adding new plants to your garden, especially for planting trees. This is because they are not actively growing at this time, giving them plenty of time to bed in and get settled before spring arrives.
When planning a garden design, we must think about what it will look like all year round. During winter, there are plenty of trees and large shrubs that have interest for homeowners and wildlife too.
Here are just a couple of ideas for stunning winter planting.
Cornus sanguinea (common dogwood)
Cornus is one of the most-loved winter plants due to its flame-coloured stems. During the summer, it’s a fairly innocuous shrub with green leaves, but in autumn when it sheds its leaves and the garden around it becomes bare – the bright red stems will really stand out. There are different varieties, including yellow stemmed plants. I like the vibrant ‘Winter Flame’ variety.
Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
This is a brilliant low maintenance grass, which grows to around 60cm and adds beautiful texture and height to borders. The grasses look beautiful throughout winter, especially when coated with frost.
Pinus sylvestris (Scots Pine)
This is a brilliant native tree – evergreen for year round greenery and no leaf drop. Use this tree as a specimen plant in garden for height and simple beauty.
What am I reading?
I’ve been fascinated by Dezeen’s sci-fi style competition called Design the World, which looks at how we can save humanity in the future. Ideas range from floating cities and techno communities to fog harvesting buildings.
If you love reading about the built environment as well as highly creative ideas, give it a read:
https://www.dezeen.com/redesigntheworld/
