The last group of winter interest plants I’d like to touch on are herbaceous plants. Though most herbaceous plants don’t add much to the winter garden, there are exceptions depending on the severity of the winter and how you manage your gardens. If there is no snow, there are evergreen plants such as bugleweed (Ajuga repens), periwinkle (Vinca minor), lilyturf (Liriope sp.) and Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) that add some color to the landscape. There are also a variety of summer blooming plants with sturdy stems, leaves, or seed pods that can double as winter interest, and that is what we are looking at this week.
Clik here to view.
Astilbe sp.
Astilbe is a durable summer blooming flower that thrives in shady and semi-shady locations. Once the plant has finished blooming, the flowers fade to brown, but they hold their shape perfectly for months. Astilbe is an excellent addition to any garden as it comes in a variety of sizes and colors, and will add color to shady locations where most plants with showy flowers won’t bloom.
Clik here to view.
Cone Flower (Echinacea purpurea)
Cone flowers have sturdy stems and spiky seed heads, that last well into the winter. Cone flowers are native to North America, and are the same plant that is commonly sold as an herbal immune booster. Though they are not aggressive, given the opportunity they will happily spread in your garden by reseeding themselves. They traditionally came in only white or pink, but you can now get them in shades of yellow, orange and red also.
Clik here to view.
Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro)
Globe thistle is not your average thistle. Though you might still want to wear gloves to handle globe thistle, its leaves are not nearly as unpleasant to handle as they appear to be. Globe thistle might look like any other thistle plant before it flowers, but it has beautiful blue globes for flowers which are sturdy enough to last all winter. It’s an excellent addition to an out of the way corner where you need a pop of color late summer, and where people won’t be accidentally brushing against it.
Clik here to view.
Perennial Grasses
Perennial grasses come in most any shape, size and color you can imagine. Some species are sturdier than others, but most likely if there is a species that catches your eye or fits well with your summer perennials it can be used for winter interest. Some examples are Maiden Hair Grass (Miscanthus sp.), Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), and Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum) among others.
Next week we are going to move on to spring pruning!