Is your landscape colorful and vibrant part of the year, and bleak the rest? Careful selection of plants will ensure a gorgeous landscape whether it’s July or January. Here’s how to use our plant nursery to create year-round color in Ulster County NY.
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A year-round landscape is interesting no matter the season. This means including a variety of plants that bloom or show off vibrant colors at different times of the year. But don’t just focus on foliage and flowers: focus on what plants look like when their flowers are spent, and consider seasonal delights like berries, as well as bark colors and textures.
Annuals and Perennials
Our plant nursery has a huge selection of annual and perennials to choose from. A good rule of thumb is to go by threes: three plants that bloom early in spring; three that bloom later in spring; three that bloom in the middle of summer; and three that bloom in fall. These groupings of three can be similar or wildly different, depending on your design aesthetic.
Evergreen Trees and Shrubs
Often thought of as the backdrop to more colorful plants, evergreens play an important role in winter, when they’re often the only color in a frozen landscape. With so many colors to choose from, you can be assured your landscape will never be boring! Deep green, silvery, bluish, light green, and golden are just a few colors to choose from. Aside from color, you can create visual interest by combining conifers (with needles) and broad-leaf evergreens like viburnum or mountain laurel. Shapes also give dimension to a seasonal landscape: playing off the wispy look of ornamental grasses during the warmer months, and creating amazing textures when covered in snow.
Fruit-Bearing Trees and Shrubs
Want a pop of color in the middle of winter? Choose shrubs and trees that bear fruit. Crabapples, chokecherry, dogwood, lowbush blueberry, and winterberry give your landscape a festive feel; plus, they support colorful non-migrating birds throughout the coldest months.
Colorful Foliage
When we think about colorful foliage, fall splendor comes to mind - and you’ll enjoy the brilliance of the dwarf burning bush, which changes its thick, green summer foliage for a striking red in fall, along with copious amounts of orange-red berries. But don’t wait ‘til September to enjoy the colors of purple-leaved crab apples or ninebark trees; sliver-and-green hostas; golden green cypress; and green-and-pink coleus plants.
Colorful Ground Covers
At the ground level, life is constantly changing. Enjoy a bounty of flowers, interesting variegated foliage, and spectacular fall foliage in a variety of mosses and ground covers. In winter, gold juniper lends a warm golden hue to your landscape, and creeping thyme will delight your senses all year with its wonderful scent.
Ornamental Grasses
Tall, billowing ornamental grasses look great whether they’re lush and green, or “harvest gold.” Until the first heavy snow causes the stalks to lie down, ornamental grasses add lightness and dynamic movement to your landscape. Depending on the color and density of the backdrop, you can choose blue grama, feather reed grass, tufted hair grass, sage, or northern lights grass for amazing color and texture.
Interesting Bark
Once deciduous trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves, the textures and colors of bark become evident. Maple, cherry, birch, and dogwood are just a few species with interesting bark.
Our experts will help you choose the right mix of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, grasses, and groundcovers to create a magical landscape no matter the season. We’ll help you choose plants according to your landscape’s unique growing conditions, as well as guiding you in creating a gorgeous layered look that will be a visual feast all year.
Related: ADD COLOR TO A BERGEN COUNTY, NJ, LANDSCAPE WITH FLOWERING PLANTS FROM OUR PLANT NURSERY
