The trend (mentioned on Page 2 toward homebuyers seeking year-round visual interest is worth expanding upon. Visual interest goes beyond color. For instance, fantastic winter scenes can be created through the employment of hardscape design elements such as stone walls, gazeboes and arbors. To soften up such hardscape design features, include tall ornamental grasses or other graceful elements. In fact, even without the hardscape design elements, ornamental grasses can provide you with some wonderful winter scenes.
Incidentally, don't think that, just because it may be a hot and humid day at the time you happen to read this article, talk of "winter scenes" is out of line. The time to work on furnishing your home landscaping with the potential for winter scenes is not when it's cold outside and two feet of snow lies on the ground. There's very little the homeowner can do at that point to improve the landscaping. You must exercise foresight. It is your spring and summer work that will determine how good your landscaping looks in winter. After all, it's pretty hard to plant ornamental grasses in the winter! Much of your hardscape design work also should be done in good weather.
In addition to providing winter scenes, don't overlook ways that you can inject maximum color into the spring and fall landscapes, too:
- If you plant bulbs in the fall, you won't have to wait until May for spring color.
- Some perennials, if cut back properly after their first blooming, will produce a second set of blooms later in the summer or in early fall.
- While trees such as maples receive all the accolades for fall color, don't neglect to plant some of the shrubs and vines resplendent in fall color, as listed in The Top 10 Shrubs and Vines for Fall Color.
- Don't pass up 2-for-1 deals. Euonymus alatus, or "burning bush" doubles as a plant valuable both for fall and winter scenes. In the fall it is valued for its foliage. A deciduous shrub, its potential for winter scenes lies in its bark. Protruding from Euonymus alatus stems is a corky membrane that gives them an oddly squarish shape. This shape traps and holds snow, making for some terrific winter scenes. Because burning bushes are invasive plants, however, make sure you keep in under control or look for alternatives.
