Tips to Create Beautiful Winter Landscaping

*This post is sponsored by Lowe’s.  All opinions and ideas are 100% mine.

We have worked so hard on building our new front porch for our exterior makeover, and now it is time to add some landscaping.  To me, the landscaping is like the “jewelry” on our home’s exterior.  It will add a ton of curb appeal to our home!

Since we are landscaping our front exterior in the fall/winter months, we went to Lowe’s to see what we could find to plant this time of year.  We filled our rolling carts with all types of beautiful plants that I was very excited about adding to our new landscaping!

It’s not always easy to know what type of plants to plant in the cooler months, so I wanted to share some tips with you today!

Here are FIVE tips to consider when creating a beautiful winter landscaping…

1.  Know Your Zone

Be sure to check out the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map to help you select plants and shrubs that do best in winter landscaping within your zone, and well as the ones that do not do well in your area during the cooler months.   We live in Zone 7a, which means the average low extreme temperates are between 0-5 degrees.

2.  Add a Variety of Evergreen Colors

Evergreens are great for winter landscaping!   What I love about evergreens is that they don’t just come in one shade of green, there are actually a lot beautiful shades of green to chose from.   We bought plants in about three different shades/colors of green to add depth and variety to our landscaping.

Here are some evergreens we chose:

GREEN MOUNTAIN BOXWOOD

Boxwoods are great because they come in all types of shapes and sizes to fit your landscaping needs.  We chose a taller, more slender variety of boxwood to plant near our porch to add some height to our landscaping.

 

CHOLLIPO EUONYMUS

I love the beautiful yellow/green leaves on the Chollipo.  These plants grow quickly and are easy to shape if you want.  They will fill our landscaping in nicely and look beautiful all year long.

 

CHAPEL VIEW JAPANESE CEDAR

This Japanese cedar is a dwarf evergreen that maintains its gorgeous emerald green color year round.  These can grow to be a larger size, but can be easily pruned to maintain the size you want.  I also love the weepy branches that will look so beautiful with fresh fallen snow on them in the winter time.   We got a couple of these plants to fill in our landscaping. 

Money Saving Tip:  Purchase the smaller versions of the plants or shrubs to save money.  When we bought our plants, there were larger versions at Lowe’s that we could have chosen from, but they were more expensive, of course.  Yes, the larger sizes are nice and will fill in your landscaping more quickly, but if you can be patient for your plants to grow, you can save a lot of money by purchasing them in the smaller sizes.

3.  Include Berries

Plants that produce berries is an excellent way to get some color in your landscaping during the winter months.  We picked this beautiful holly berry shrub, and the red berries add a bright pop of color to our winter landscaping.

The bright red berries stand out against the glossy green leaves, especially when contrasted against the winter snow or against the dull colors of the dormant season.

Money Saving Tip:  Planting holly berry bushes like these can save you money on your holiday decor.  Instead of purchasing faux greenery, just take a few clippings each year from your holly bushes to create beautiful wreaths or add to your Christmas garlands.

4.  Add Spring Bloomers

One thing to consider when planting plants in the cooler months, is to pick some varieties that will bloom in the spring and add color to your landscaping. 

We chose this Chinese Fringe Flower shrub for two reasons:

  1. The purple leaves add color to our winter landscape.
  2. It puts on a breathtaking springtime display of fringy pink or white flowers.

This plant has become very popular in the south, and we knew it would be a beautiful addition to our landscaping.  

Money Saving Tip:  Buying plants or shrubs that bloom can save you money in the warmer months.  The bright pops of color that their blooms will add to your landscaping will keep you from spending money on annual flower varieties.

5.  Apply Mulch

Adding a new layer of mulch in the winter months not only makes your landscaping look fresh and is pleasing to the eye, but it can also shield your plants and shrubs from the harsh winter weather.  Mulch is a great insulator and can help to protect your plants’ roots from frost. 

We try to make sure to have at least 2 or more inches of mulch in our winter landscaping.

Money Saving Tip:  Did you know that adding mulch to your landscaping will save on your water bill?  Yep, mulch helps the soil hold in moisture better which means you have to water your plants less.  

Adding these plants to our winter landscaping is the perfect foundation to build upon in the spring.  Our landscaping actually looks bright and colorful right now, and it will look even more amazing in the spring when we add more flowers and colorful plants. 

What are your best tips for having a beautiful winter landscape?  Let me know in the comments!

 

 

 

4 Comments

  1. It’s going to look great! Can’t wait to see the pictures. Just don’t forget to add a sprinkler/irrigation and drainage system. That is very important.

  2. We re-did our landscaping a few years ago (maybe 6?) and bought about 6 of the CHOLLIPO EUONYMUS from a local nursery. I love them but warning to you that they are susceptible to Aphids. They also do not like wet soil. We planted ours against the back wall of our foundation in front of our porch and sometime this year our gutters got clogged and overflowed. We didn’t know so it happened several times. By the time I knew what was going on, 4 of our 6 Euonymus were dead. :( Aphids got the last two.

  3. Did you and Cy consider 1/2 “ river rock instead of mulch? It adds that construct I like when the snow isn’t present. Plus is almost no maintenance and you don’t have to refresh it every year. I think that’s the direction we are going here in Michigan. I’m gonna add some of those red berry holly you recommenced. We are also adding a burning bush or two this Spring and some box woods. Thank you!

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