Plants for the Winter Garden Perennials, Grasses, Shrubs, and Trees to Add Interest in the Cold and Snow

A comprehensive reference to plants that stay beautiful in the winter garden, with design and planting concepts for prolonged wintry conditions.

Plants for the Winter Garden extends the possibilities for the cold-climate gardener. Though most plants may go dormant in wintry months, there are many inspiring cultivars and varieties that hold their interest through the cold and snow, including brightly colored twigs, buds, and berries, dazzling winter flowers and dried seed pods, and elegant shadow-making plant forms. Plantsman Warren Leach shares expertise and techniques perfected over thirty years of gardening in frigid eastern Massachusetts, including:

• Incorporating structural elements like stone walls, paths, and hardy containers that keep gardens intriguing when covered with snow;
• Accentuating plant shapes which hold their form year-round;
• Siting and pruning evergreens for maximum effect;
• Showcasing trees with textured or colorful bark that stands out in gray months, and more.

Plants for the Winter Garden provides invaluable insight that will make every garden hold its interest throughout the season.

Warren Leach is a passionate plant collector, landscape horticulturist, and award-winning garden designer. He has received, twice, the National Landscape Association Regional Certificate of Merit for Residential Landscape Design. In 2009 was awarded by the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association 1st Place for Residential Design and Installation for his ornamental vegetable garden at Brigham Hill Farm in North Grafton, images of which are archived at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In 2010, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored Leach with a Gold Medal for his horticultural expertise, landscape design as well as years of forcing plants and creating exceptional displays in the New England Spring Flower Show. He is an admired speaker and educator at numerous horticultural institutions and organizations throughout the Northeast, and has taught horticulture and landscape design at The University of Rhode Island, the Brown University Learning Community, Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education and is a frequent instructor at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, as well as numerous garden clubs and botanical gardens.