The Moody Winter Garden: 9 Expert Tips
Photography by Frank Heijligers
In fall, the Instagram feeds many of our favorite gardeners, quite understandably, start to wither or move indoors. Not so that of Dutch garden designer Frank Heijligers. Indeed, it's in winter that Frank’s winter garden seems to reach the height of its sparkling charm.
Enchanted, we decided to ask Frank, who grows grasses, perennials, trees, and shrubs at his nursery, Plantwerk, to divulge his secrets for a successful winter garden. Here are 9 tips for adding sparkle and moody color.
Now a dramatic black, the once purple cones of Agastache ‘Black Adder’ still stand tall in the frosty winter garden.
1. Embrace black
Like spectators at the ballet, crowds of Monarda ‘Croftway Pink’ seedheads watch a changing fall landscape.
2. Choose long-lasting seedheads
Because plants with good structure tend to bloom later, Frank fills in the gaps with bulbs. like alilums.
3. Fill the gaps
You need plants like Phlomis, Aster, Eupatorium, Veronicastrum, and Anemone combined with grasses like Deschampsia, Miscanthus, Sporobolus, and Festuca mairei to make the garden look good until March.”
4. Find frost-proof plants
Feathery textures of dried grasses and desiccated asters create a dynamic winter garden.
5. Add feathery textures
"I like to use cloud hedges of beech or cornus, for example,” Frank says; “even though those plants lose their foliage... they provide a lot of structure in winter and early spring."
6. Add structure
Playful Asclepias ‘Ice Ballet’ (milkweed) mimics fox ears or fish tails.
7. Find charm in decay
“Every period has its own charm," says Frank, "and in February it’s great to cut it all back and start all over again with a clean slate.”
8. Consider late-season color
The pompom heads of Pennisetum are even prettier with a dusting of frost.
9. Frost is your friend