Winter garden inspiration

On my bookshelves are seven titles devoted to the winter garden. It's a subject we gave a lot of thought to when designing our garden. We have large windows that look out to the garden and we didn't want to only see snow for months on end.

This is one subject where many garden writers and bloggers don't have growing conditions close enough to ours to be able to offer useful advice or inspiration. When I am trying to figure out what else we might do to punch up our winter garden, I often turn to New England gardeners.

The photos below are from Juniper Hill, the living laboratory of writer, gardener and photographer Joseph Valentine. His New Hampshire garden is stunning and so is his website. It's well worth a look, especially for those who garden in cold climates. He also posts to Instagram and Pinterest. 

This image makes me think I should put a tall grass in the empty spot in my evergreen hedge along the back fence. I had been planning on just adding another yew but this suggests I should think about other, more dramatic, options.

I've got a standard lilac like the pair pictured here but these two, at Juniper Hill, are perfect specimens. To my eye they will never look better than they do here in winter. 

Gordon Hayward and his wife Mary garden in Vermont. Gordon used to frequently come to Madison to do lectures and workshops about garden design. He stayed with us a couple of times, including one February when he and Mary got snowed in at our house.

The Hayward's garden (above) is an instructive example of how to design for winter interest. You can see it and read about it here on Juniper Hill's old website. I have a row of Gordon's garden books on my shelves and every one beautifully covers various aspects of garden design. Great speaker, great writer, great gardener. Gordon's own website is here.

Comments

[Lisa at Greenbow]

OH gosh, My afternoon is shot after being down the rabbit holes of these two sites. Wow, such inspiration. FUN...
I just read a book by George Schenk _Moss Gardening_ I have all sorts of ideas floating around in my head. Come on spring.

[Linda Brazill]

I have that book and love it. We are not maintaining our big moss garden anymore. But we have lots of good patches of moss that just appear where conditions are what they like and those I am trying to keep looking good. I would like to try a trough of mosses.

[Barbara H.]

Oh gosh, so many options, so many things to do, so little time - and I'm retired! Maybe if I was still working I'd be more focused. Thanks for these trails to ideas for winter gardens.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

Yes, that is something on my list.

[Linda Brazill]

I do think it was easier to be focused when I was working. Knowing I had limited time helps you from wasting it. These days I seem to be in the middle of lots of unfinished projects!

[Peter/Outlaw]

Those big grasses are glorious in the winter garden and their movement in the wind is an added bonus! Can't wait to see which one you choose for your garden! Thanks for the links - all very interesting!