A Beautiful Landscape to Welcome the New Year
Winter can be one of the most challenging seasons in the landscape.
Shorter days, colder temperatures, and dormant gardens can make outdoor spaces feel quiet or even forgotten. And yet, winter plays a critical role in the long-term health and beauty of a well-designed landscape. Dormancy allows plants to reset, store energy, and emerge stronger in the seasons ahead. Colder temperatures can even help naturally manage pests and disease.
The goal isn’t to fight winter but to design a landscape that feels intentional, balanced, and beautiful through it.
Why Winter Beauty Matters
When the garden slows down, structure and form take center stage.
A thoughtfully designed winter landscape offers more than visual appeal. It creates moments of calm, something meaningful to enjoy from your windows, and a sense of continuity as one year gives way to the next. Winter beauty is subtle, refined, and deeply tied to quality design decisions made long before the first frost.
Designing a Landscape That Holds Its Beauty All Year
Evergreens as the Foundation
Evergreens provide the framework that carries a landscape through winter. Trees like Southern Magnolia offer year-round presence with glossy foliage and a sculptural form that feels timeless. At the shrub layer, Inkberry Holly and Leucothoe create rich evergreen masses that work beautifully in foundation plantings, woodland edges, and refined naturalistic designs.
These plants anchor the landscape, offering consistency and elegance in every season.
The rich burgundy leaves of Leucothoe add evergreen depth to the landscape in winter
Native Shrubs with Berries and Seasonal Color
Native shrubs bring understated drama to the winter garden while supporting wildlife.
Brandywine Viburnum provides layered seasonal interest
Winterberry Holly offers striking red berries that persist into winter
Red Twig Dogwood adds bold color through vibrant stems, especially against snow
These selections add warmth, contrast, and life when much of the landscape is at rest.
Winterberries provide a bright pop of color as leaves drop.
Grasses That Add Movement and Texture
Ornamental grasses introduce softness and motion to the winter landscape. Little Bluestem, Switchgrass, and Prairie Dropseed are beautiful native options available in a range of forms, from upright and architectural to gently mounded.
Left standing through winter, grasses catch frost, snow, and low light, adding quiet movement and refinement with very little maintenance.
Switchgrass is a beautiful native grass that stays standing through winter
Perennials That Don’t Disappear
Perennials don’t need to vanish entirely once temperatures drop.
Plants like ‘Purple Beauty’ Creeping Phlox, Heuchera, and Penstemon ‘Husker Red’ retain all or part of their foliage through winter, helping planting beds feel grounded and complete. Their foliage adds texture and subtle color that enhances the overall composition of the landscape.
Winter Is the Ideal Time to Plan
As the new year begins, your landscape doesn’t have to wait for spring to feel inspiring.
Now is a wonderful time to reach out to begin developing a plan for a landscape that feels refined, balanced, and beautiful year-round.
Explore our Pricing Packages to see real examples and find the right starting point for your project.
— Union Landscape Design
