Admittedly, you’ll never achieve the splashes of radiant color that come so easily in the summer, but there is no reason to let your garden wither. If you get creative you can squeeze bits of color from this plant and that until you have a perfectly enchanting winter garden.

Evergreens are sooth with a ephemeral array of blues, silvers, greens, and golds. From The blue-gray of the Arizona Cypress ‘Glabra’, the bright Thuja ‘Gold Ribbon’, adding these colorful trees will add height and structure to your garden, while providing subtle winter colors throughout the bleaker months.

Plants that produce fruit in the winter add bright colors that will contrast well with the more subtle evergreen colors. Holly berries or Pyracantha can add nice warm splashes of reds and golds. The large, bright red rose hips of shrub roses can be very attractive in the off-months.

Deciduous shrubs and trees that have colorful bark are often used as colorful accents in the winter garden. Birches, maples, and cherries are great examples. Some Japanese Maples, for example, have bright white or red bark that really stands out against the muted colors of winter.