News / Clark County News

Garden Life: Use winter’s starkness to be sure of yard’s plan

By Robb Rosser

Published: February 4, 2015, 4:00pm

In the Northwest garden evergreen trees and shrubs add to the seasonal color display.

The clarity of winter brings out the skeleton of your garden. In garden design terms, the bones. Paths, walks, hedges and walls are elements that provide background and form for your planting plan and must stand on their own merits. A cedar trellis or metal sculpture may be the only vertical element standing in a winter flower border. The bare branches of a dogwood tree may be the only feature in a sea of lawn. It is part of your overall garden plan to make sure that each element has the stature to stand alone.

We all know the difference between a project that was planned out well in advance and one that was pulled together at the last minute. On the other hand, many of our most successful projects begin with a simple idea and expand over time. A good basic plan allows for the process of evolution. No gardener should expect perfection on the first outing. For gardeners making their first garden, there is simply too much to know to get it right the first time. In addition, the garden you desire to day will change over time.

Like finding the perfect home, you don’t know exactly what you want until you have lived through a couple of starters. Just like a home, what you learn from spending time in a garden is how the traffic flows from one area to another, room to room. With time you will discover your favorite visual nooks, where the sun pools in the morning and where shade seduces you on a summer afternoon.

I often suggest using the critical eye of a visitor to see your own garden plan clearly. Judge shapes and outlines. Consider the quality of a plant’s presence despite your emotional attachment. Without a doubt I have kept many plants standing in my garden because they were a gift from a friend or one that I had spent an exorbitant amount of money to obtain. Take the time to look at plants individually to determine their continued value to the garden.

To my eye, nothing lends texture, volume and visual depth to a planting design than evergreens. Evergreen trees form walls and background. Large evergreen shrubs connect the earth and sky and bring your home into scale with your garden. Bold sweeps of evergreen ground-cover plants such as pachysandra or vinca threading through beds and borders are important in unifying the winter garden.

Our first thought of a deciduous tree is the form it takes in midsummer when the crown of the tree is at its fullest. When a child draws a picture of a tree, their maple, oak or apple begins with a large round circle at the top of a strong trunk. But in winter, after leaves have fallen, the framework of a deciduous tree stands stark against the colorless sky. Now it’s the structural presence of branches and limbs that make an impact. Always consider the character of your garden plants in all four seasons.

One of the best measures of your garden design is the comfort you feel when you are out in it. If the logic and design of your garden works, you will see it from all different angles. Look for garden views out of house windows. Include beds and borders in the view from kitchen and living rooms. Consider creating a small room or vignette to be seen from private rooms of the house such as the bedroom and bathroom.

Begin a new garden with trees, both evergreen and deciduous. Step down to shrubs and ground covers. Vines meander up and through a garden to expand the height and depth of beds and borders. Later, bring in perennials and annuals for season color and texture. It’s like adding pillows to a large sofa or pictures to painted walls. The strength of your garden relies on the basic plan. Visual interest changes with the addition of seasonal plantings.

The goal in garden design is to create a space that is beautiful and pleasing to the senses in all seasons. We have to take the time to stop and look at our garden to really see it for what it is. Whether sleeping under a blanket of snow in deepest winter or exploding with extravagant fragrance in summer, a fabulous garden will include all of our senses. Best of all, the sight, smell, sound, and feel of your own garden is entirely up to you. Begin with a simple plan and then make it what you will.

Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified master gardener. Reach him at Write2Robb@aol.com.

Related Stories