Add Colour To Your Garden With These Seasonal Gardening Tips
Many of us decorate the insides of our homes during this season, adding warmth and colour to the otherwise grey days. However, while our homes are colourful and bright, our gardens often get left behind.
Although gardening may not be your favourite hobby during the cold days of winter, this doesn’t mean your garden has to be neglected. There are some fun and clever ways you can add colour to your garden, brightening up the grey weather and ensuring every corner of your home is in the festive spirit.
At TM Landscapes, we believe that your garden deserves the best no matter the season. For this guide, we are sharing some of the best seasonal gardening tips to add colour and warmth to your garden, so you can enjoy the view at all times of the day.
1. Winter-Flowering Plants
One of the most effective seasonal gardening tips to bring colour to your winter garden is plants. Although winter is the dormant season for many plants, some bloom during the colder weather and can add brightness to any landscape.
These plants can be incorporated into any garden design ahead of winter or in the middle of the season to add a pop of colour to the landscape
Some of our favourite winter-flowering plants include:
- Hellebores (Christmas Rose): These hardy flowers bloom from late winter to early spring, offering lasting colour and warmth to your garden. They are available in a range of colours, including whites, pinks and purples to suit all garden designs.
- Winter Pansies: Known for their resilience, winter pansies bloom during the colder months of the year and are available in a variety of colours. Their compact size makes them ideal for borders or containers.
- Cyclamen: If you are looking to add some elegance to your winter garden, Cyclamen are a great option. These are available in pink, red and white shades and have delicate, upswept petals throughout the winter months.
By blooming in winter, these plants can add colour to your garden even on the greyest days and with the right care can continue to thrive for many more seasons.
2. Evergreens
Evergreens are the backbone of any winter garden, as they thrive all year long. Evergreen shrubs offer structure and greenery in every season and can help maintain the appeal of your garden well into the winter.
Some great options for evergreen plants to add colour this winter include:
- Boxwood: These shrubs offer lush green foliage all year round and can be shaped to suit your desires and garden design.
- Holly: A classic of the winter season, Holly is an evergreen shrub that offers dense greenery and bright red berries, bringing festive colours to even the most basic landscape.
- Pine and Spruce: Both of these evergreen trees are a staple of winter and the festivities that take place. While we may only have Christmas trees in our homes for several weeks, these trees can last hundreds of years once established and will continue to add greenery, structure and beautiful scents to your landscape no matter the season.
3. Colourful Winter Shrubs
If you are looking to add more than greenery to your landscape, then you may want to consider colourful winter shrubs. Colourful winter shrubs are one of the most overlooked seasonal gardening tips because people do not realise that some plants can thrive in cold weather.
We often assume that plants will fade and enter their dormant stage when the weather gets cold, but this is not the case for everything. These colourful shrubs thrive in the winter and offer vibrant hues that can brighten even the dullest of days.
- Cornus (Dogwood): Known for its striking red stems, Winter Stem Colour Dogwood can add a dramatic touch to your winter landscape and deliver warmth to the landscape when other plants have faded away.
- Viburnum: This winter flowering shrub produces clusters of pink or white flowers during the winter. These not only look beautiful and can truly stand out amongst other seasonal plants, but they also produce a delightful fragrance, that carries across the landscape even in chilly weather.
Looking outside the box when it comes to seasonal gardening tips can help you make a stunning festive display from common species. Many people do not consider how their garden will look during the winter, and miss out on incredible winter flowering shrubs like Dogwood, ensuring your landscape will stand out for all the right reasons by incorporating it.
4. Use Berries and Seed Heads
Berries are another staple of the winter season and therefore need to be included in our seasonal gardening tips.
Planting species that produce berries not only brings bright colours to your garden, even during the winter but also attracts wildlife. This adds another layer of visual interest that can keep your garden colourful and attractive well into the season.
- Pyracantha and Cotoneaster: These produce berries from bright red to orange, making them an ideal choice for all kinds of landscapes.
- Echinacea and Sedum: These have a natural, rustic appearance with their seed heads that remain during the winter. Not only are these quite attractive, but they are also a great food source for birds, creating more interest across your landscape as the season progresses.
5. Hard Landscaping Features
Hardscaping may not be the most obvious of seasonal gardening tips, as it can be implemented at any time of the year for a similar effect. However, those who are looking to enhance the appeal of their winter garden and want to renovate the space have a colour of options which can keep your landscape engaging well into the winter.
- Decorative Gravel and Pebbles: incorporating these is a great tool no matter the weather, but is particularly useful during the winter due to the great drainage properties they provide. By choosing warmer-toned stones, you can brighten your winter garden and ensure year-long appeal.
- Stone Pathways and Benches: These make your garden more accessible and comfortable at all times of the year, and can be a great way to encourage exploration of your winter garden. Wrap up warm and take a walk around your garden to see the beauty of the season, or enjoy a hot drink while sitting on the bench and watching the birds.
Hardscaping such as paving can be a great investment for your garden that offers benefits in every season, including the winter.
6. Lighting And Ambience
As the days are shorter during winter, now is the perfect time to incorporate decorative lighting into your landscape.
This means that even when it is dark, you can still see beauty and colour in your landscape and there are a couple of particular popular options for this time of year.
- Fairy Lights: Another classic of the festive season, fairy lights are also one of the most useful seasonal gardening tips as they can add colour and illumination to any garden. Whether you opt for multicoloured lights or standard yellow glow, fairy lights can be draped across fences, twisted into shrubs and around trees, or even across garden furniture to add some magic to the landscape.
- Lanterns: These are a great way to enhance illumination while also adding warmth to the garden. Lanterns with a warm glow or even fake flames can be used along paths or hung in trees to add charm to the landscape, and make it accessible even in the dark evenings.
- Spotlights: These lights can be used to highlight key features of your garden design, such as statues or particularly striking plants to create visual interest after dusk and ensure that your hard work does not go unnoticed.
Conclusion
With our seasonal gardening tips, you can transform your outdoor space into a winter wonderland and ensure that all corners of your property are ready for the festive season. You do not have to spend a lot of time or money renovating your garden for the winter, and there are many ways to add colour using plants or other decorative items.
No matter your age, the magic of the season should be enjoyed and taking time to include your garden in this can have lasting benefits.
Contact Us Today
Whether you are looking for seasonal gardening support or other landscaping, TM Landscapes can help. Contact the team today to learn more about our services or request a consultation.