Gardening: Now is the perfect time to survey the landscape to see where color is needed

The snow that blanketed central Ohio the past several weeks allowed me to evaluate the plants in my home landscape from a different perspective. The blanket of white made me realize that I do not have a lot of plants with features that make them stand out in the winter, especially in the snow.

Over the years, I have planted several different species of shade trees that provide interesting foliage and needed shade for people and plants. I have planted dogwood and redbud for early spring color as well as shrub and tree varieties of hydrangeas for summer color. The dozen maples that I planted along the property line as well as the row of burning bush (Euonymus alatus) provide dazzling red and orange color in fall.

But in winter, my landscape can be downright boring.

Many times we choose trees, shrubs and other ornamental plants for our landscapes based on the characteristics that they exhibit during the growing season. And that criterion certainly makes sense. But we can also select plants that add color, texture and visual interest during the winter months.

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Planting for winter color

There are several woody ornamental plants that can serve the dual purpose of providing interesting foliage during the growing season as well as colorful berries throughout the winter when color is naturally lacking in the landscape. And most of these plants are excellent for foundation plantings around the home in sight of windows.

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a species of holly that is native to North America and loses its leaves in winter. Although its light green foliage and inconspicuous white flowers may not dazzle during the summer months, this plant begins to shine in autumn with berries in shades of red, orange and even yellow depending upon the cultivar chosen. All species of holly are dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. Thus, in order to have fruit you must have male and female winterberry plants for pollination.

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Other woody ornamental plants that produce berries for winter color include Aronia berry (Aronia melanocarpa), a compact shrub with deep-purple berries that remain on the plant through winter, and swamp rose (Rosa palustris) with huge ruby-red berries on large canes that contain thorns. Both of these shrubs belong to the rose family and are self-pollinating. Swamp rose can be aggressive and may not be the ideal plant for small spaces.

Selecting trees for their bark

Another option for adding visual interest to your landscape in winter is to plant trees with interesting bark characteristics.

Several species of trees have bark that exfoliates or peels from the tree trunk naturally, often revealing variations of color underneath.

Species of trees with the exfoliating bark characteristic include river birch, maple, sycamore, kousa dogwood and dawn redwood. While this interesting bark characteristic appears all year long, it is more visually striking in winter when these deciduous trees lack foliage. Trees such as birch with white-colored bark also add interest to the landscape year-round.

Incorporating evergreens, too

If your landscape contains only deciduous trees and shrubs, consider planting some conifers and broadleaf evergreens to add some winter foliage and color. Conifers include trees such as the many and varied species of pine, fir and spruce as well as shrubs such as juniper and yew.

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Broadleaf evergreens are plants that do not lose their leaves in winter, such as holly, azalea and rhododendron.

So pull up a chair near the window and take a long, hard look at your landscape to see how interesting it looks right now. Then make a list of plant materials that you want to look for at your favorite garden center in just 8 or 9 weeks from now. My list is long.

Mike Hogan is an associate professor at Ohio State University and an educator at the OSU Extension.

hogan.1@ osu.edu

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Here are some plants and trees that provide color in winter