What Are the Five Best Plants To Add to Your Winter Landscape?

Winter often seems like a rough time for people who cherish their green thumb. It feels like the world’s plant life is about to disappear until Spring. However, there’s a wide selection of plants that can enrich our winter with their splendor. We’ll take a look at the five best choices for winter plants that will add a brilliant flourish to your landscape.

1. Maiden Grass (Miscanthus Sinensis

Ornamental grass is often seen as the framing device for an entire garden or landscape. Of course, cold weather drastically limits our options for grass. Thankfully one of the most beautiful ornamental grasses is also quite tolerant of the cold. Maiden grass produces beautiful plumes that often look like feathers blowing in the wind. Their lighter coloration also makes it a perfect compliment to Winter’s weather.

2. China Holly (Ilex meserveae)

As winter rolls in, we’ll often hear refrains enticing us to deck the halls with boughs of holly. We can take that as quite practical advice. Holly is a fantastic option for people who want to celebrate the Winter holidays in style. As Fall rolls into Winter we’ll still see bright red berries on the holly. What’s more, the China Holly is particularly hardy and tolerant of a wide range of conditions. This ensures that we’ll still see its distinctive red berries as the chill winds begin to blow. These berries will often even attract beautiful birds to further enliven our view.

3. Cranberrybush Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum)

Cranberries instantly spark memories of winter celebrations. And it turns out that the compact American cranberry bush is a surprisingly hardy plant to include in your winter landscape. In late fall you’ll see the shrub’s foliage go from green to a beautiful red or purple. Though the plant’s beauty can be enjoyed all throughout the year. Birds will also flock to the bush in order to enjoy its berries.

4. Paper Birch (Betula Papyrifera)

Birch trees are more of a time investment than most other ornamental plants. However, the paper birch is easily one of the best ways to create a truly eye-catching winter landscape. The paper birch is particularly notable for its combination of striped bark and rapid growth. Both time and climate will change the coloration of this tree’s bark. And most of the colors are particularly well suited to the winter. The paper birch is even superbly tolerant of cold weather. All of these factors make it a perfect choice for an ornamental winter tree.

5. Canadian Hemlock (Tsuga Canadenesis)

The Canadian hemlock has a rather imposing name. And anyone familiar with hemlock might assume that it’d be a towering tree that would dominate any given winter landscape. The Canadian hemlock is a special cultivar that appears more like a shrub than a large tree. The fact that it’s an evergreen conifer means that it’ll provide a year-long addition to our landscapes. As long as they’re properly sheered we can use them as beautiful hedges that will last all throughout the winter.