Adding Color to a Winter Garden with Artificial Flowers

When looking for ways to add a touch of color to a winter garden, check out online garden sites for plants that you might want to add in the spring. Look for plants that add winter interest and you’ll be ready to go shopping as soon as springtime arrives. And while northern winters won’t support flower with hues as vibrant as those in your sailboats wall decor, keep in mind that there are many ways to add interest to a winter garden.

Plan Ahead

Look for plants with colorful branches and bark, such as the red twig dogwood, so that after all of the leaves have fallen, the plant takes on a colorful and architecturally interesting look in the garden. Many evergreen plants are quite colorful, and they often are embellished with natural ornaments like pine cones.

Other cold weather plants like holly, boast colorful berries throughout the frigid months of winter. Climbing plants like ivy manage to stay green all winter, but bear in mind some of the climbing plants, like ivy, can be quite invasive when planted in a garden; so plan accordingly.

Some plants, like the corkscrew filbert, have really interesting shapes, which offer interest in the winter garden.

Many grasses also retain most of their color even as temperatures drop, such as blue fescue; but even grasses that turn brown are still pretty when their seed heads dance in the winter wind..

Artificial Accents

However, since it does take several seasons to develop a colorful and appealing winter garden, to give a garden a little pick me up immediately, consider adding some artificial plants as accents. The trick to making artificial blooms look real during the winter is to choose plants that naturally bloom during this timeframe.

Consider adding sprigs of evergreen to the winter garden for a natural, green richness that looks amazing against the gray background of a winter landscape. An artificial evergreen can be added in any size from a tiny shrub to a full sized tree.

Artificial poinsettias can be placed in flower boxes and containers for the holiday season, as well as artificial holly and ivy. They can often be reused season after season, but check for fading before using them again. To keep an outdoor box or container looking more realistic, push in a few empty branches or cut evergreen branches before the soil freezes.

Add Interest with Hardscaping

Another way to maintain an interesting winter garden is to add a trellis on the patio. This adds height and interesting lines and shapes to a winter garden.

Pathways and metal garden accents, like an obelisk or sundial, also add structure and interest.

If your winters are not especially harsh, statuary may be left outdoors; however this is not advisable in areas where snow and freezing rain can cause cracking or damage.

While ceramic pots are beautiful, they should not be left outdoors when temperature dip below freezing.

Another way to cheer up those dark, winter days is to bring the garden indoors and what better way than with something like the above metal bike wall art.
 

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