Plants to Add Interest to Your Winter Garden
The following plants, shrubs, and trees grow all year long but have particularly interesting features for winter or features that appear during this time. Plants with unusual fruit, bark, and shapes are perfect picks for adding interest to your winter landscape. Enjoy!
| Evergreen Trees and Shrubs | Specific Fall/Winter Interest |
| Alaska False Cypress | Drooping foliage |
| American arborvitae | Good overall winter shrub |
| Boxwood | Broadleaf evergreen, interesting shape |
| Bristlecone pine | White resin spots |
| Colorado blue spruce | Blue needles |
| Douglas-fir | Unique cones |
| Eastern red cedar | Nice bark, foliage, and fruits |
| Eastern white pine | Grey/blue needles |
| Juniper | Interesting colors, shapes, and berries depending on the cultivar |
| Mugo pine | Great winter color |
| Ponderosa pine | Rust colored bark |
| Sawara False Cypress | Thin, feathery foliage |
| Scotch pine | Orange bark |
| Plants/Trees with Unusual Shapes or Colors | |
| Bald cypress | Attractive deciduous conifer |
| Bamboo | Interesting shapes and colors available |
| Blue beech | Gray bark |
| Cherry tree | Beautiful bark, lenticels |
| Cotoneaster | Attractive shape for winter |
| Corkscrew willow | Twisting branches |
| Kentucky coffee tree | Beautiful bark |
| Ornamental Pear | Different varieties available with attractive bark, fruits, leaves, and fruits |
| Paperbark maple | Peeling bark |
| River birch | White, peeling bark |
| Shrub dogwoods | Red bark |
| Weeping Mulberry | Nice shape |
| Weeping willow | Yellow, drooping branches |
| Plants/Trees with Interesting Fruits, Berries, Seeds | |
| American holly | Females have attractive berries |
| Bayberry | Grey berries |
| Chokeberry | Colorful berries |
| Japanese Pagoda Tree | Fruits and seeds form “chains” and last until spring |
| Catalpa | Long seed pods |
| Ornamental Pear | Different varieties available with attractive bark, fruits, leaves, and fruits |
| Oregon holly grape | Yellow flowers in spring |
| Pyracantha (Firethorn) | Orange/red berries, evergreen foliage |
| Groundcovers | |
| Christmas fern | Used for indoor Christmas decorations |
| English ivy | Good groundcover for general purpose landscaping |
| Euphorbia | Some winter hardy varieties available |
| Hens and Chicks | Unusual shapes |
| Japanese spurge | Good groundcover for shady spots |
| Purpleleaf wintercreeper | Colorful foliage |
| Vinca (Common periwinkle) | Good overall groundcover with flowers |
