The Colors of Winter Using Evergreen Shrubs

Winter Garden January 3rd

I was going to wait to talk about winter color until we got a little snow and well, actual winter but we haven't gotten any yet and there are no chances of snow for the next few weeks it appears so I am going ahead with it. I keep thinking the other shoe is going to drop and winter is going to come roaring in but its actually seems to be getting more spring-like as we go more into January. We are looking at near 60 degree highs on Saturday and its been in the 50s several times this past week. The garden is is responding to the warmth and I have the first snowdrops of the season on the verge of flowering, it may just be a few more days away.  Now on to the real topic of this post. Winter and the color it can provide ( Minus snowcover/wintery weather ) Take note how even the brown grasses/plants above have a visually pleasing look. Well at least I think anyway, I feel like I'm the only one that sees it this way!

PJM Elite Rhododendron

Gold Juniper

Winter can be a long season, Once January passes we find ourselves looking at the magazines/online websites being ready for the next planting next season. Hold up, what about Winter? It is often a very overlooked season and it can be considered a missed opportunity. A garden done right needs to look nice in all seasons, including winter! I learned this from growing up in the great white north where a winter as warm/snowless as this would be a dream come true. I feel having evergreen shrubs are the number one way a gardener can celebrate the winter season. When I'm discussing evergreens to most gardeners, they wince and the thought of planting them because they make them think about the overgrown pointy needled evergreens seen planted around homes built in the 50s and 60s. To be quite frank I am with that group to a degree, I have not been a fan of needle evergreens since the move to Iowa. Don't get me wrong they have their place, its just not my thing. I will admit there are some newer modern cultivars of needle evergreens like Juniper and Arborvitae among others that stay short or columnar and have nice colors of gold or blue and those are certainly worth looking into! I got a gold Juniper while in Minnesota last fall and it has colors that intensify more as cold weather comes in. Junipers are extremely hardy, drought tolerant and most importantly rabbits don't like them and I don't have to encase it in fences like some other shrubs as seen in the PJM Rhododendron photos at the top left.

Boxwood Green Mountain

My favorite evergreen shrubs are broadleaf evergreens, or basically evergreens that don't really look like true evergreens. These shrubs have leaves of any other ordinary shrub but they of course hold their leaves all winter. They don't have any pointy needles and no pine-cones or sap! Iowa surprisingly has several shrubs in this category, even more then I'm showing here. A few I have come across so far are Rhododendrons, Boxwoods, Azaleas, Bayleaf and Evergreen Hollies.

Evergreen Azalea Girard White

Cold weather leaf curl

Gardeners should keep in mind however because some of boardleaf evergreens mentioned above actually consider semi-evergreen in our climate which means more than half of the leaves will fall off in winter. Dwarf Korean Rhododendrons and evergreen azaleas are such shrubs that fall into this category. If one wants a true evergreen Rhododendron go for PJM series or large leaf Rhododendron like Rosum Elegans cultivar, these both truly will hold all their leaves in our region. Large leaf ones are extra impressive in our area because they almost have a tropical appearance and hang onto their large 4-5" leaves even in the harshest of winters. Take notice that the leaves of both the PJM and large leaf will roll up tight in cold weather and nearly appear leafless while in this state. Usually under 28.F they will do this and they will stay curled like the above left photo until warm weather re-appears. When warm air arrives the leaves unfold back to normal. This makes them great plants to have when you want to know if its warm outside! I will be posting a more in depth photos about these shrubs later on because many evergreen Azaleas found around area gardens centers are not flower-bud hardy in Iowa including the Girard White pictured above and I want to help people figure out which ones to get.

Semi-Evergreen Perennials

Evergreen Perennials are another one of those winter plants often overlooked. Heartleaf Pigsqeek ( Yes that is the name ) also known as Bergenia for others are an evergreen perennial just as are Lenten Roses. I really like the greenery they add to the garden this time of year. The term Semi-Evergreen needs to be used when describing the evergreen nature at least of Lenten Rose anyway because once real-cold weather moves in it is very hard on their leaves and even these will eventually turn brown and look raggedy. This year they still look great even way into January, but in a more typical winter once we get to mid December they have pretty much turn completely brown. The plants will be fine once spring arrives and I trim the previous years foliage. The Berginia is a quite a bit more evergreen then Lenten Rose. Other true evergreen perennials I can think of are, Beardtongue, Creeping Phlox, Creeping Dianthus, Pachysandra, Wintercreeper Vine and Hardy English Ivy. So as can be seen evergreen plants have a place even in the modern landscape and they are a great way to add much needed winter color even in a spring-like winter!