Gifford Garden Notes
Gardening for Winter Interest (continued)
by Diane Fagergren

Last week I talked about various deciduous shrubs that can add interest to the winter garden. Also mentioned, were some that will help attract the birds to your yard. This week I will continue that discussion and suggest perennials that can help you in your quest to design a garden for all seasons.

Another way to create interest in the garden is by leaving the dried seed heads and flowers on your perennials. In winters with little snowfall, plants that have evergreen foliage can also help to enhance the landscape. These are some examples of each:

Perennials for winter interest

• Achillea 'Coronation Gold' (yarrow) has a corymb or flat disc shaped flower up to 4" across. When the growing season is over, its foliage and flower dry and remain through the winter months.
• Allium aflatunense (ornamental onion) has a spherical flower or umbel which means that its star shaped flowers all radiate out from the same point.
• Arum italicum (Italian arum) is an interesting plant because of its year round attributes. The arrow shaped leaves are mottled with a creamy venation and remain throughout the winter.
• Asarum europaeum (European ginger) is a groundcover that holds its dark shiny foliage through the winter.
• Astilbe hybrids (plume flower) die back to the ground, leaving spikes of mahogany colored seed heads averaging between 8 and 18" tall. These provide interest in the landscape throughout the winter.
• Bergenia cordifolia (pigsqueak) shows off its broad thick evergreen leaves by turning purple during the cold months of winter.
• Cimicifuga simplex (autumn snakeroot) and its dried bottlebrush style flowers, will tower over a blanket of snow and add texture and form to your beds.
• Echinacea purpurea (coneflower) has dark brown disks that remain after all the flower petals drop off in the fall. A great one to attract the birds!
• Echinops ritro 'Taplow Blue' (globe thistle) and its sphere shaped flowers are a feeding station for the birds. This is a favorite food and probably will not last through much of the winter.
• Helleborus spp. (hellebore) has shiny green lobed foliage that pushes up through the snow and starts blooming in the middle of winter. When you are really getting antsy for spring, this plant reminds you that it's not too far away!
• Liriope muscari (lilyturf) forms short clumps or tuffs of strap-like evergreen leaves. It spreads to form a mat and shows off well in winters with little snow.
• Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern) has dark green evergreen foliage that reaches approximately 18" in height. Mass plantings will naturalize a given area.
• Rudbeckia fulgida (black-eyed Susan) supplies nourishment for the birds plus adds interest as its dark brown button-like seed head stick up through the snow.
• Sedum spectabile 'Autumn Joy' (stonecrop) has a large 6" flower head that makes a nice statement when the ground is blanketed in white.
• Yucca filamentosa (Adam's needle) growth habit is like that of a rosette. Its lance shape foliage grows to 30" in length and gives the garden an architectural element. Very dramatic in a winter garden when planted as a specimen.

Next week: ornamental grasses and hardscaping for winter interest.

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