Winter Landscapes in Your Garden. Please Share!

This is meant to be a continuation of the "Fall Clean-Up" Thread.....now that we all have (hopefully) cleaned up our Gardens and are approaching Winter and the Holiday decorations time.WHAT are YOU doing?

--WHAT will hold YOUR interest in your Garden in the coming Winter?
--WHAT have you/are you doing to make it welcome to birds and wildlife?
--WHAT have you done to make your Garden better next year?
--Are you decorating it for the Holidays? How?

PLease share any, and all, ideas and suggestions and comments......

We came from here.....
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/902178/#top

I am trying to put my Garden to rest in as cleaned up state as possible. I have more time NOW than I will have in the Spring to do clean-up.

As far as Winter interest--all I can say is that I LOVE all the snow on whatever I have outside.....We don't always get snow....BUT--if we get it, it can be nasty and overwhelming....

If we have a heavy snow--my grill looks like it is covered in marshmallow.....
All my shrubs look beautiful with the piles of snow on them....I hate to disturb them.....
My clothesline is like a white wires--with tufts of snow on each line....SO Cosmic-looking....
My Canadian Hemlocks, on either side of my front entrance, with their wispy, drooping branches--all covered in snow, look so graceful as I look out the front door.....

In general--if we have a snowfall--I just go out--camera in hand--and try to capture the beauty of whatever is "out there"......after having shoveled my way to my back yard ...

How is it by YOU?

Gita

Gita, I love the snow, too. Always have I know that for some it can be a real hardship but that doesn't change the beauty of snow for me. Even ice that is so very dangerous also provides such beauty. We have several bird feeders that are filled all year long and provide water both at ground level and with my Birdbath/Fountain Pond.
I think my BFP is the best feature of my yard there are birds at it mostly year round. In the summer I fill the bottom pond area with pond plants making it a nice small water garden with fish and frogs

Even when the plants have been put to bed for the winter it still has much interest.

I do need to shut down the fountain from time to time in the winter but the top still fills with water. The birds still come and gather on the small tree planted near the BFP.

Then there is a very cold winter weather draping my BFP in a new coat of beauty.

This is from the BIG snow we had in 2/2006. We only get these once every 2-3 years....

Here is my Hemlock to the right of my front door. The street has been plowed--but we still had to dig out to get anywhere.....

Holly--I meant to say how beautiful your winter pictures were.....

I have a ceramic bird bath as well, but I take it down when the freezing weather comes--or it will crack. I still keep a large plastic saucer in it's place so the birds will have fresh water.

Here is my car, half dig out during this storm of 2006. You can't even tell it is a car!

OK! All done digging out......AND--I still made it to work on time.....

Seldom see this.....just don't walk under it!

Thanks Gita, What a beautiful Hemlock,
Another "large" interest spot is my huge Juniper hedge. Always an interesting photo opp.

A beautiful glaze of crystal ice and one of our birds just waiting for their turn at the feeders. Ok guys are we getting you all in the mood for snow?

Actually, you are easing the pain of cold weather coming!
I'm pretty sure you have there a great shot of White-throated sparrow, see the yellow patch on its 'nose' That call has been on my bird clock as our last warning to get out the door for school for years, so I will always know one when I hear one, like I am around my yard now. An chickadees, who were gossiping about when I'm going to go get some seed.
I have winter pics, but I had sorted many pic by species or type of plant and I can't find any now...

There- I knew I had a garden in winter folder but couldn't see it last night for the life of me.
Don't forget the hollies, Holly

noticed how these money plant seedlings curled up and hid from extreme cold.

Sally, Love your Holly picture. Yes, Holly does have Hollies. LOL
This large Holly bush is quite a disappointment. A gift from my parents years ago I thought it was a holly tree and planted it here with the expectations that it would grow into a beautiful large tree. It is a beautiful large bush but not quite what I wanted in that spot. If I wasn't so sentimental about my plants I would cut it down and replace it, but that isn't going to happen. The forsythia bush next to the holly is the one that I am replacing with a tree next spring so that will give the grouping a different look.

I also have a holly hedge 10 of them that wrap the back corner of my yard. It was only planted a year or two ago and have doubled in size since this picture was taken last winter.

OK, Folks, I don't have any winter pictures on this computer, This is a photo of the fall foliage on my Lady in Red Hydrangea.

That's one pretty Hydrangea. What color does it bloom?

Holly, in my soil, they start out white, then turn blue , then turn to pink and end up a dark rose.

Here's early summer:

Mid to late summer:

Fall, Note the red on the leaves and the red stems.

Is that a "Lace Cap" Hydrangia?

Yes, Gita, It is and was a 50% off damaged plant from HD. It was touch & go the first 2 years. I believe that it is close to full grown now.

Sorry, folks, don't mean to hijack this thread.

Here's a bush down in our lower field that turns red every autumn.

Since my yard is a work in progress(pretty much a blank slate) I don't have much in winter foliage but have a lot of pines bordering the property, they're always pretty with the snow on them

The first pic was to the left looking out sliding door on deck.
This pic is to the right.


edited for spelling.

This message was edited Nov 16, 2008 12:44 PM

That is pretty, Jen and your shrub is lovely, Buttoneer.

My answer to all four of Gita's questions is Hollies! And a blue spruce, and red twig dogwood 'Cardinal'. Lots of Aronia seedlings, swamp rose, and a blueberry. The tall holly ('Dragon Lady') is planted where the maple stump was. I removed most of the roots, too.

I got rid of thirty year old burning bush and forsythia that were growing in shade on the other property line. That house is for sale so I figured I'd yank 'em before somebody got attached to them. The owner didn't care if I removed them and with all the rain we've had, it was the time to do it. I planted a few Pieris there. They'll deal with the shade better and look a lot nicer.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have that maple gone. It really oppressed the tiny back yard. My elderly neighbor's deceased husband planted it thirty years ago on the wrong side of their property line, and whenever I spoke of removing it she would go into the story of how he found it in the woods, and planted it there as a sapling, and look how big it is now, it shades my house, etc...To his credit, he also planted dogwoods, an oak, white pines and some junipers that are growing well.

Another view - still have to figure out what to do near the shed. I might get rid of it. Every little house in this neighborhood has one whether it's needed or not.

I enjoyed all the pics, especially the snow. HollyAnnS, what kind of holly is that near the forsythia? They get pruned so often, sometimes you can't know what they will grow like without it.

Claypa, Not sure what kind it is but definitely a bush type. A gift from my parents probably 20 years ago give or take. I'd have to look through very old pictures to find a picture of it small. It's at least 8ft high and a lot wider than that. We have done very little trimming until the last few years when Ric felt that it was just getting too big around. He was having trouble getting between it and the Juniper hedge with the riding mower.

It's a beautiful holly just not a good shape to sit in front the the juniper hedge. I'm hoping that the new tree that will replace the forsythia will make a big impact and I have several ideas, thanks to the Mid-Atlantic DGer's for planting around the area. That will make a big difference in the look. Another project for another year. The new tree will go in next spring. Wanted to put it in this fall but didn't get around to it.

claypa- looks nice. Imagine all the Norway leaves you're not dealing with now. Looks like there are enough maples around there as is it.
Holly, your holly has pretty leaves. Look how the points o n the edge point toward the end, seems ind of unusual. (Not trying to guilt you into keeping it LOL)

Sally, It is pretty and not going anywhere, I'm too sentimental. I think by replacing the Forsythia with a Crab-apple and a nice planting and walkway sitting area near the holly it will change the appearance of that area. Also Ric and his clippers have made a big difference already by containing the side growth, I should have let him work on it sooner.
Here is another of my winter interest areas, this old picture shows the old lamppost bed. I'll need a new one with the new bed in place.

Claypa, I wanted to say how pretty your new planting is looking. Nice color and texture mix.

Claypa, You're new shrub grouping is very nice and will look great as it grows. Holly, I love that photo of your arbor.

Lady has a whole white world of winter interest going on in her yard this morning.


Sally has the link below.

This message was edited Nov 17, 2008 12:46 PM

Whoopsie- try this one
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/924165/

Well, I really goofed on that one. I'm getting very dangerous!!!

I'm leaving these Pyrecantha berries for the birds. I cut most of this bush down earlier to try training it up the wall in the spring. I wanted to leave something for the birds, so I left these few lower branches as they are loaded with berries.

Look at all of the blooms about to open on this Iberis Candytuft.