Pam’s Plant Picks: Plants for Winter Color

It’s January, and much of the garden remains dormant here in Western Washington.  To add a splash of color to your winter garden, Home & Garden Seattle’s plant expert Pam Jones has these suggestions, which can work just as well on a patio, deck or even indoors as they do in the garden!

• Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo).  “Nandina domestica is one of my very favorite plants,” says Jones.  “I love its soft texture and adaptability to different styles.”  This evergreen shrub, a native of southeast Asia, actually isn’t a bamboo at all but a member of the barberry family.  This beautiful plant has gorgeous, finely-textured compound leaves that resemble its namesake (bamboo).  

In the spring, nandina domestica has lovely white blooms that are delightful to look at, but it is what it does this time of year that makes it a standout in the winter garden!  Spring flowers gradually turn to red berries that are prominent during the cold dark months of the year, creating dramatic pops of color in otherwise “sleeping” gardens.  Leaves can turn from pink to green to red as the season changes.  

Heavenly bamboo can grow as foundation plants, informal hedges or shrub borders in the garden, or in containers on a deck, patio or indoors. “Combining taller forms with more compact ones in one grouping is especially attractive either as an accent planting or used in a mixed border,” says Jones.

• Cotoneaster.  This member of the rose family is a flowering plant that comes in many species and cultivars, from groundcovers to shrubs, that boasts a plant variety for nearly every situation except for full shade, says Jones.  Cotoneaster can be either evergreen or deciduous, and can be prostrate spreaders as low as four inches to 30 foot shrubby trees.  What they all have in common, says Jones, are glossy leaves, and small pink, red or white flowers in the spring, which turn into green berries that gradually ripen over the summer into brilliant shades of red for fall and winter color.  Birds will enjoy these fruits when other food sources are scarce.

These tough plants grow in a variety of conditions, from drought, wind and salt spray.  They can be espaliered against a wall, fence or trellis, grown in borders or as hedges and often are used for ground erosion.  They can be grown in containers on decks or patios, or even as bonsai indoors!

So if you’re looking for winter color for your garden, deck or even indoors, nandina domestica or cotoneaster are worth a look!