Winter is the season of silhouettes. Think evergreens - perfectly shaped spruces, sprawling junipers, feathery cedars. Imagine the gnarled outline of an ancient oak or the symmetrical shape of a sugar maple against the sky at sunset. Stripped of foliage, deciduous trees and shrubs stand naked, showing every bend, bump and line. Snowfall serves as a foil to heighten their beauty of form. Dogwoods display wonderful horizontal branch structure and has the added advantage of white flowers in June and late-summer bunches of blue berries for the birds.

Deciduous trees and shrubs form the framework of the garden. They often reveal their character more plainly in winter, when their particular pattern of trunks and branches is projected against a backdrop of white. Weeping trees and shrubs emphasize line in the landscape.

Outdoor architecture also adds visual interest. Consider the framework of your yard - paths, walls, fences, hedges and edging. Is there a focal point such as a bench, arbor, trellis or birdbath? Capitalize on the ability of structures to draw attention by adding plants to complement them.

Texture piques our interest in the winter garden. Everything from the crinkled leaves of ironwood to the prickly needles of Scotch pine to the shaggy bark of eastern red cedar invite our touch. Creamy, curling bark of birches combines well with dark green conifers.
Evergreens add texture, color and mass. Covered with snow, conifers suggest Christmas-card beauty. The Japanese call evergreens "snow flowers" since they appear to bloom in winter, with tufts of snow on the tips of each branch.

Plants that produce fruit not only add color to the landscape but also attract birds, which find them a valuable source of winter food. Holly is a good choice for the winter garden because it has berries for birds and also can be used for Christmas decorating. A hardy shrub tolerant of severely cold winters, winterberry has black stems covered with clusters of bright berries well into the winter.

Although some fruits fall off or are quickly stripped by the birds, berried treasures do add color from late fall into early winter on flowering crab-apple trees, snowberry, American mountain ash, high-bush cranberry, Korean barberry and shrub roses.

Selecting and designing a spot for your winter garden is a challenge just right for February. When the temperature hovers near zero, you can sit comfortably in your favorite chair and survey the scene. Do you want to admire the beauty from one or two windows in the house? Do you want to show off your landscape to passersby? Or do you want to enjoy your winter garden from the walkway?

Consider plant size, growing requirements like light and moisture, shape, texture, color and fruiting habits. Concentrate on plants that are attractive in other seasons as well - plants with colorful fall foliage.

As you look deeper into the dormant landscape, you will begin to appreciate the exquisite tracery of bare branches, the delicate color of curling birch bark and the fine texture of ornamental grasses. Your winter garden will come alive.