Evergreens for the Winter Garden

Heavenly Bamboo

Winter’s barren landscape can be quite beautiful, especially when snow layers on bare branches of deciduous trees. The snow outlines the shape and movement of branches that leaves hide the other three seasons, giving a haunting picture. But nature knows our eyes need color too, and so dotted into our natural landscapes are the native evergreens that populate our forests.

Landscape designers take their cues from nature, mimicking the natural elements surrounding us as they consider your yard. Put simply, if your landscape has only deciduous trees, your winter will be a bit boring, and you’ll probably find yourself longing for green, just like your eyes seek the evergreens of the forests.

Boxwood

The good news is there are lots of choices when adding evergreen to your landscape. The plants listed below are the tried and true evergreens used by Masterplan to enhance your winter (and summer, spring and fall) landscape. These are some of their go-to plants when evergreens are called for. You don’t have to get fancy to give green a place in your landscape, Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’ is a lush, low-maintenance broad-leaf evergreen that serves as a great foundation plant or to cover up cable boxes.

• Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Compacta’ (Hinoki)| 20’ x 25’ | full sun to part sun
• Buxus ‘Green Velvet’ (Boxwood)| 3-4’ x 3-4’ | partial to full sun
• Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Filicoides’ (Fernspray) |8-10’ x 3-4’ | full sun
• Ilex × aquipernyi ‘Meschick’ Dragon Lady | 10-20’ x 4-6’ | full sun to partial shade
• Nandina domestica ‘Heavenly Bamboo’ | 6-8 x 4-6’ | full sun to partial shade
• Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’ | 3-4’ x 6-8’ | tolerate full shade or full sun
• Picea pungens ’Baker/ (Blue Spruce) |12-20 x 6-10’ | full sun to partial shade

Blue Spruce

We often think of evergreens as just that evergreen, and nothing else. Fortunately, these plants bring more value to the landscape than balm for the weary-winter eyes. They add vibrant red color and berries year round (Nandina). They provide berries for birds (‘Dragon Lady’ and ‘Otto Luyken’), and add structural interest (Fernspray and Hinoki). They bring blue into the garden (‘Bakeri’ blue spruce). They keep unwanted neighborhood animals away (‘Dragon Lady’), and give a great fragrance (‘Otto Luyken’). Evergreens bring year round interest to the garden giving us year round pleasure.