In our area of Pennsylvania, our winters can be rather unpredictable. Sometimes there’s beautiful snow, other times it’s rain and flooding. Either way, here’s some quick tips to beautify that winter landscape of yours to boost your spirits until Spring!
1. Plant Evergreen Trees for Winter Landscape Beauty
Evergreens are a great way to help your winter landscape look beautiful and lush all season. Obviously, when you live in Pennsylvania or anywhere in the Northeast, snow and ice are simply a part of winter. As a result, you need to be sure that your landscaping includes robust plants that don’t just beautify it during the warmer months.
Evergreens are a great way to add a pop of color, and that color does not just have to be green. For example, a Blue Dwarf Spruce will have a blueish hue to it, while the Gold Thread False Cypress can offer beautiful yellows. Both can be used as accent points throughout your landscaping, or to help to separate different areas. Either way, they will look good regardless of the season.
2. Attract Birds With Food and Water
During the cold months, birds and other wildlife are actively looking for food. Fortunately, you can take a number of steps to ensure that even in winter, birds will still bring life, color, and activity to your yard.
The first is to make sure that your bird feeder is packed with seeds. Especially during winter, birds will find it more difficult to find their food, and a reliable source can turn your yard into a desirable spot. To take it another step further, you could make sure that your bird bath doesn’t freeze by getting creative, such as using a heated dog bowl. Finally, shrubs with winter berries such as crabapples and holly can both add a touch of color to your yard and attract birds.
3. Beautiful Lighting
One option you might not have considered is adding lights to beautify your winter landscape. During the winter months, the sun sets earlier seemingly every day, so you and any onlookers will not be able to enjoy the landscape as long as they would during summer. By coming up with a lighting design, you will help bring beauty and interest to your landscape. Whether you are highlighting plants with spotlight or just placing a more encompassing light to give the entire yard a bright feel, this touch can truly impact your landscape.
4. Repurpose Existing Decorations
If you have flower pots in the front of your home that are interwoven throughout your landscape, don’t remove them or keep them empty. Instead, repurpose them. For example, if you have a decorative wheelbarrow that you use to grow annuals, don’t put it away in your garage. Instead, plant annuals to add color in additional ways.
5. Consider Your Hardscape
In winter, you can’t rely on your garden, flowers, and shrubbery to provide color and shape to your yard. That, in turn, increases the importance of hardscaping in preparing for the cold season.
Simply adding a bench or trellis, for example, can add both color and coherence to your winter landscape, even if you can’t plant vines on the trellis or utilize the bench until it gets warmer. If you have the time before it gets too cold, you may always want to consider building or buying a fireside retreat that allows you to get cozy even as it snows around you.
Getting Your Yard Ready for Winter
Ultimately, the goal of your landscaping should be to avoid focusing on the ground. By following these few simple steps, you can not only help to make your yard look pleasing, but will also draw the eyes upward and away from the cold hard ground, which will periodically be covered with snow (or heavy rain water).
At the end of the day, it’s important to make choices around the year, regardless of weather and warmth. And if you lack the ability to really visualize what your landscape could be, then it’s important to enlist the help of professionals to help guide you.
Whether you decide to plant trees that will look stunning all year, paint your front door for a pop of color, light up your landscape, or repurpose existing pieces, call Stoney Acres. We’re here to help! 570-925-6826