Winter Wonderful
Full sun to partial shade
Average soil
When folks talk about a “winter garden,” they generally don’t mean a garden that’s actively growing and flowering during the winter months. Instead, they mean a garden that grows during the normal growing season and then continues to look attractive after frost, thanks to features such as evergreen leaves, showy seed heads, bright berries, or striking dried stems. So, if you’re tired of looking at bare garden beds in your yard for several months a year, a perennial planting designed specifically for winter interest could be just the thing for you!
The Garden Plan
Shopping List
1 ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass
Calamagrostis × acutiflora
3 plants
Zones 4–8
Alternates: Another 4- to 5-foot-tall perennial with persistent winter stems, such as Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) [3 plants] or ‘Heavy Metal’ or ‘Shenandoah’ switch grass (Panicum virgatum) [3 plants]
‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora)
2 ‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow
Achillea
6 plants
Zones 3–8
Alternates: Another 2 to 3-foot-tall, yellow- or orange-flowered perennial with long-lasting seed heads, such as orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) [6 plants] or ‘Summer Sun’ false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) [6 plants]
‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow (Achillea)
3 ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Helen’s flower
Helenium
3 plants
Zones 4–8
Alternates: Another 18- to 24-inch-tall perennial with red or rosy pink flowers, such as ‘Fireball’ bee balm (Monarda) [3 plants] or ‘Autumn Fire’ or ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum (Sedum) [3 plants]
‘Ruby Tuesday’ Helen’s flower (Helenium)
4 Spike blazing star
Liatris spicata
5 plants
Zones 4–9
Alternates: Another blazing star, such as prairie blazing star (L. pycnostachya), or another 3- to 4-foot-tall perennial with long-lasting seed heads, such as purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) [5 plants], a turtlehead (Chelone) [5 plants], or ‘Bluebird’ smooth aster (Aster laevis) [5 plants]
Spike blazing star (Liatris spicata)
5 ‘Southern Comfort’ heuchera
Heuchera
6 plants
Zones 4–9
Alternates: Another heuchera, or another 6- to 18-inch-tall perennial with evergreen foliage, such as perennial candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) [6 plants] or a variegated blue lilyturf (Liriope muscari ‘Silvery Sunproof’ or ‘Variegata’) [6 plants]
‘Southern Comfort’ heuchera (Heuchera)
Planting Plan
Season by Season
Spring: This garden jumps into the growing season with the bright green new shoots of ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass, ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Helen’s flower, and spike blazing star, the ferny gray-green leaves of ‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow, and the rich orange foliage of ‘Southern Comfort’ heuchera.
Give your winter garden a fresh start via a thorough cleanup in early spring. Cut down any remaining dead top growth on the feather reed grass, yarrow, Helen’s flower, and spike blazing star, and divide any of these that were starting to outgrow their places last year. Trim off any winter-damaged leaves on the heuchera, and figure on dividing it every 3 years or so to keep it vigorous. Spread a fresh layer of organic mulch over the soil, and your work is done for the season.
Summer: Early summer brings on the blooms, with the pinkish plumes of ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass and the golden yellow, clustered blooms of ‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow, and both of these remain through the summer. In southern gardens, spike blazing star typically produces its fuzzy-looking spikes of pinkish purple flowers in early to midsummer; in northern areas, it flowers in mid to late summer. Mid to late summer is also the usual bloom time of ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Helen’s flower, with its small but abundant daisy-form, deep red flowers. ‘Southern Comfort’ heuchera sends up loose spikes of tiny white bells in mid to late summer, but they don’t add much interest; its key attraction is its leaves, which are peachy yellow to light orange through the summer.
While you’d normally keep dead flowers clipped off, you’ll want to leave them in this garden so they can dry in place and remain for winter interest. The one exception is the heuchera flowers: clip off the bloom stems close to their base after flowering, or even before the blossoms open if you don’t like how they look.
Fall and Winter: The ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass plumes turn tan by early fall, and the dried flower stalks remain through the winter. The ‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow, ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Helen’s flower, and spike blazing star might still be sending up a few near flowers in early fall, and some of them might keep some leaves at the base, but they’re mostly stems and seed heads that remain through fall and into winter. ‘Southern Comfort’ heuchera generally holds its orangey foliage through the winter.
There’s not much late-season maintenance to do here: just keep the flower stalks of the heuchera clipped off through the fall; then, enjoy your winter garden.
Digging Deeper
- This long, narrow bed is designed to look good from both sides, making it ideal for edging a path, sidewalk, or driveway. The ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora) in the center adds height without creating a solid barrier, so the bed would also make a great screen planting around a ground-level deck or patio, giving it a sense of privacy from summer through winter without the expense of a permanent enclosure.
- One good reason to keep dead flowers clipped off is to stop your perennials from producing seeds, which may then drop to the ground, sprout, and produce new plants (a process known as “self-sowing”). Finding a few self-sown seedlings can be fun, but when a perennial starts producing dozens or even hundreds of seedlings every year, that can be a big problem. There are two ways to prevent over-abundant self-sowing but still be able to enjoy seed heads in your winter garden. One is to apply a new 1- to 2-inch-thick layer of organic mulch over the soil in your garden every year as soon as you finish the spring cleanup. (The mulch will prevent many of the seeds that dropped through the winter from sprouting.) The other option is to look for perennials that are “sterile” (that don’t produce seeds capable of sprouting), such as ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora), ‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow (Achillea), ‘Blue Fortune’ hyssop (Agastache), and ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta).
- Want to add a touch of color to your winter garden? Dress up the seed heads of your perennials with a quick spritz of spray paint!