Should you plant a four season garden?
Even though summer and fall have gone - and with it all the colors and abundance that the warmer months have to offer - the beauty of nature continues to shine. As the weather gets colder and colder, winter gardens begin to make an appearance and if done right, this can be one of the best times of the year to go out and admire the nature that's just outside your door.
A winter garden - when done right - can be amazing. By winter garden we mean a garden that thrives all year long but looks especially beautiful in winter. We design these four-season gardens using plants such as bulbs that bloom early in spring, flowers that blossom in summer and grasses that explode into majestic seed heads just before the first snow - so you can enjoy your garden year-round. Our goal is to create a sustainable landscape that breaks from traditional, less aesthetically-aware designs. We accomplish this by using native plants when we can, and by only using adaptive plants when necessary.
When creating a design for your four-season garden, it's important to note that not all flowers slumber in winter. While most plants will fade into shades of sienna, lion, and amber in the colder months, some flora will still have blooms hanging on even when temperatures fall into the mid to low 20s. These late-late bloomers offer a unique and pleasant surprise in the dreary months of December through February.
Winter interest isn’t just about looking good. It’s about being more ecologically enriching and more sustainable than conventional landscape design and lawn care. The use of native and adaptive plants has huge positive impacts on nature, from being habitat and food sources for bees, birds, butterflies and other animals. But more than anything, designing a four-season landscape means establishing ground cover. Groundcover may sound kinda boring, but it is one of the cornerstones of an ecological community. No ground cover means bare dirt and bare dirt degrades and washes away very easily. The beautiful grasses discussed previously are great examples of densely bunched flora that look awesome AND protect the soil underneath them. When you design a four-season bed, you are actually mimicking how nature is supposed to work. Winter interest and winter gardens are a vital part of replicating nature and should always be considered when designing your yard.
