A garden at rest can be just as beautiful as a garden in every other season. Let the stems and seed heads be a start to your canvas while a winter snow gracefully paints the masterpiece. A garden can be a bit drab and very bare without perennials, but the dainty structure of golden Bouteloua, for example, and various seed heads can bring beauty to even the grayest of winters.

Instead of cutting back your perennials, grasses, and shrubs this fall, leave them for winter interest and cut back in early spring. Not only do they bring stunning interest to your winter landscape, but they also provide food and shelter for birds and insects in the cold months. You can still clean up your plants that have poor foilage this fall but leave the seed heads.

Wonderful Winter Interest Plants

Winterberry // Bright red berries pop against a colorless winter garden

Beautyberry // Holds its berry all fall and winter

Snowberry // White berry stands out against the brown winter hues

Viburnum // Vibrant color in a winter wonderland and a much needed food source for birds

Flowering Crabapples // Top food source in the winter for birds

Bluestem // Changes with the first frost to an attractive red-bronze color providing landscape interest well into the winter and a habitat for animals to seek refuge

Bouteloua // The dainty eyelash-like seed heads look beautiful covered in snow.

Rudbeckia and Coneflowers: Leave the seed heads for birds to enjoy over the winter!

Enjoy your garden in every season, even winter!