I have always felt that many landscapes are dull and dreary in the winter. Many people have the standard green meatballs like Helleri Holly as a foundation planting, Junipers as groundcovers, and Japanese Privet as a hedge. They do provide a nice evergreen backdrop but their winter ornamental characteristics end there.

Below is some information about a couple plants that can provide winter interest other than green foliage in the landscape. Keep in mind that these are two of the many plants available to provide winter interest. You might want to do what I did to get some ideas for this article. Try reading The Year in Trees by Kim Tripp and J.C. Raulston. This book provides a wealth of information about plants that provide interest year around.

Daphne odora, Winter Daphne, is always found on lists of plants that provide winter interest. Winter Daphne is a dense, mounded shrub that gets about 4 feet high and wide in most landscapes. Winter Daphne blooms from February to March with clusters of rosy pink flowers that have a lemon-like floral aroma. It is common knowledge that Daphne is temperamental in the garden. I have read several sources who discuss almost overnight death of what seemed to be healthy plants. References stress finding a good site, planting properly, and leaving it there. Transplanting is a sure way to kill Winter Daphne. They prefer moist, well-drained soil (don't all plants) with a pH of 6 to 7 in a site with light shade. Make sure to prepare a wide planting hole, do not plant too deep, and mulch well to hold moisture but keep mulch away from the plant's stems. Even if you don't have success the first time, Winter Daphne is worth several tries. My favorite Winter Daphne is 'Variegata', a form with yellow variegation on the margin of the leaf. Flowers are described as pale pink. This is the form I actually see most often. It forms a very dense mound and because of the variegation provides interest year around. It seems that if taken care of correctly, this is a graceful, neat, and well-behaved garden plant. The natural mounding habit means little or no pruning is needed. Just make sure to plant it near a frequently used winter walkway so its fragrance can be truly appreciated.

The second plant I would like to discuss here is Nandina domestica, Heavenly Bamboo. Heavenly Bamboo is not a bamboo, but it is certainly as tough as one. My focus will not be on the newer and more popular cultivars like 'Firepower', 'Gulf Stream', 'Harbour Dwarf', and 'San Gabriel', but on the sometimes forgotten common species. Nandina has compound, leathery, evergreen leaves 12 to 24 inches long that emerge with a red tint, become glossy blue-green with age, and develop red tint again in the fall and winter. It grows with a cane type habit with the stem elongating and often resulting in a leggy plant if some canes are not thinned out and new ones allowed to grow periodically. Ultimately the plant will reach 6 to 8 feet high and 3 to 4 feet wide and has a graceful, upright, spreading habit. Unlike Winter Daphne, Nandina produces white blooms in May and June. The winter interest from this plant comes from the red tint the foliage gets and the numerous red berries that ripen in September and October (there are also yellow fruited forms), but last through the winter. The fruit display is much more dramatic than the red fruited hollies because it is held above the foliage. Another benefit is the birds that are attracted to Nandina berries. The colorful and abundant fruit attract large numbers or our feathered friends.

Now for the best feature that Heavenly Bamboo has to offer: durability. Unlike Winter Daphne, Nandina is adaptable to many different situations. It will take full sun or shade, moist or dry soil, and tends to thrive whether fertilized or not. In fact, Nandina will grow just fine under the heavy shade of Oak trees with an underplanting of English Ivy just to add a little more competition according to Michael Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Believe me, this is one of the toughest plants available for landscape use. Even if you don't get it in the perfect location to start with don't worry. It will transplant with no problem unlike the sensitive Winter Daphne. One last thing about this plant. You should be able to get it real cheap by dividing a clump from a friend. If you already have some Nandina around, share it with a neighbor.

Well there you have it. A couple of very different but attractive plants that can provide the landscape with winter interest for the eyes and nose. Don't forget that winter interest comes in many forms besides just evergreen leaves. Both of these plants have that characteristic, but many others have attractive bark, branch structure, habit, flowers, or fruit without evergreen leaves. Let's plant some diversity in the landscape!