Year-Round Eye-Catching Greenery: Evergreen Plants That Add Charm to Your Space
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Wanna keep your garden popping all year round? Forget about those one-hit-wonders blooming only in spring or summer. You gotta pick your plants wisely to get a diverse range offering more than just flowers. Look for plants sporting autumn leaf colors, berries, and architectural forms too.
Here are ten stars that'll keep your garden datin' all year long:
Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'
This bad boy bearin' pinky-violet blossoms on bare stems in spring looks stylish, but it's not just about the looks. The heart-shaped leaves turn dark purple in summer and yellow before falling in autumn. And if you're wond'rin, yeah, it's multi-stemmed for maximum winter charm.
Crab apples
Throw a crab apple tree, like Malus x robusta 'Red Sentinel' in there. It's compact, so it fits even the tiniest of gardens, offers terrific wildlife value, and is a stunner from spring to autumn. Blooms pink or white, depending on the variety, and the crab apples stick around till autumn. The leaves go full dramatic before fallin'.
Amelanchier lamarckii
Another winner for small gardens, and the Amelanchier fam'ly in general, brings small, white star-shaped flowers in spring, black berries in summer, and stellar autumn foliage.
Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Dart's Red Robin'
This baby's got white lacecap flowers in spring and summer, crinkled foliage, red berries in summer, red foliage in autumn, and a sexy tiered shape that'll give any garden a vibe.
Blueberries
They taste great, and they look great too! Expect white, bell-shaped flowers in late spring, blue fruits in summer, and fiery autumn leaves.
Hydrangea quercifolia
This one's called the oak-leafed hydrangea for a reason. It's got cone-shaped flowers that last from midsummer to autumn, changing color as the season progresses, and oak-shaped leaves that turn bronze, orange, and reddish-purple before fallin'.
Witch hazel
Witch hazel flowers in late winter and early spring when there's not much else goin' on. And its leaves turn a fiery red before autumn. Check out Hamamelis x intermedia 'Aphrodite.'
Cornus alba 'Sibirica'
This one's grown for its bright red winter stems, but it's got some other things goin' on, too—variegated leaves turn red in autumn, it flowers white in early summer, and it's got white berries, too.
Fruit trees
Apples and pears are garden all-stars. They bring spring blossom, fruits in summer, and autumn leaf colors. Grow 'em as espaliers or step-overs, and underplant 'em with early spring bulbs like crocus or narcissus.
Viburnum opulus
This one's got white, lacecap flowers in late spring and early summer, followed by clusters of red berries in autumn, and leaf colors that go full-on red before fallin' in autumn.
Now, if you want to take things to the next level, here are some topiary suggestions: Yew's less temperamental than box, and it's excellent for trainin' into topiary shapes, givin' year-round form to your garden.
And remember, for continuous color all year round, take a look at these 12 varieties: primrose, crocus, daffodils, tulips, roses, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), mums (Chrysanthemums), yucca, bergenia, twig dogwoods, pansies, and lamium. Mix 'em up, and you've got a vibrant garden happenin' all year long!
- The 'Cercis canadensis' 'Forest Pansy' and 'Amelanchier lamarckii' are perfect choices for home-and-garden enthusiasts seeking plants that offer color and interest beyond just the spring and summer months, with autumn leaf colors, berries, and architectural forms.
- To enhance the home-and-garden lifestyle further, consider incorporating topiary into your garden design, particularly yew, which is less temperamental than box and excels at shaping into various topiary forms, providing year-round structure.
