A good part of the year in Canada consists of cool temperature, soft light, and early sunsets – otherwise known as winter. It’s interesting, then, that many consider their backyards and front-yards appearance only in the spring and summer time. In this blog post we look at the kinds of trees, plants and shrubs that turn your outdoor space into a beautiful landscape in the winter months.
Japanese Maple – Coral bark maple
A gorgeous addition of colour to a winter landscape is the coral bark Japanese maple (Sango Kaku). It’s a resilient and durable tree, that requires a bit of extra care in the beginning but will pay off for years to come. In addition to its lovely red colour in the winter months, it gives beautiful yellow leaves in the fall. Note that a medium sized tree can read heights over 20 feet, so make sure to give it enough room and space to grow.
Birch trees
Birch trees have one of the most distinct and recognizable bark patterns of all trees. Their white bark will bring a beautiful tone to your outdoor space before the snow sets. They’re quite resilient, with the Whitespire birch being a great choice for our hardiness zone (Zone 6 according to Canadian standards, Zone 5 according to US standards). Their white colour and beautiful patterns also make for great decoration in seasonal urns and planters.
Cutleaf Stephanandra
The dense branches of this shrub make it a visually interesting addition to an outdoor landscape, adding volume and texture. It has a light brown colour in the winter months, in contrast to the green that it takes on in the summer months, with white flowers blooming in the spring. It’s dense tangle of branches gathers snow in a lovely way too, adding height and shape to your outdoor space. It’s hard from USDA zones 4-7, which includes our winter landscape that corresponds to Zone 5 on that scale.
Winter Honeysuckle
Not only is the winter honeysuckle a lovely sight to see in your backyard or front yard, it also smells delicious. It’s a great idea to place it where you can enjoy that fragrance during the late winter and early spring, when the fragrant flowers start to bloom. Full or partial shade is the best placement if you’d like to experience the Winter Honeysuckle’s blooms.
Winterberry Holly
This shrub is commonly used in landscape and holiday winter assortments alike, it’s lovely red fruit make it a beautiful choice to add to your outdoor space. Winterberry Holly is a native of eastern Canada and it grows well in garden soil that is moist but well-drained. We hope you liked our picks for trees and shrubs that make gorgeous additons to your winter landscape. This post was inspired by Vincent A. Simeone’s book ‘Wonders of the Winter Landscape’ and we highly recommend it if you’re interested in exploring more shrubs and trees that will beautify your outdoor space in the winter time.
If you’re interested in our team helping you with winter services on your home or consulting you on the best choices for winter additions to your outdoor space, please contact us.
