Liven up your Landscape with Cold Loving Plants and LED Lights

Looking to add some eye candy to your landscape this winter? Liven up your space with some cold-loving plants and LED lights! These two design elements are guaranteed to spruce up your property and have it looking beautiful and vibrant, even on the darkest of days.

Choosing plants that love the cold

For most outdoor plants, the cold weather slows down growth with the lack of sunlight and dipping temperatures decreasing photosynthesis and respiration. However, there are some plant species that are hardy enough to survive even the harshest of winters. This tolerance can be classified according to each plant's ability to survive subfreezing temperatures, also known as their cold hardiness level:

• High Hardiness Level: There are two main types of plants that have evolved to support cold temperatures between -10 to -20 °C: Evergreen and deciduous trees.
• Intermediate Hardiness Level: At this level, plants can survive temperatures as low as -5 to -10 °C.
• Low Hardiness Level: Plants in this group can survive temperatures between 0 to -5 °C.

Understanding a plant’s hardiness level is key to ensuring you choose the right plants for your outdoor space.

6 Hardy plants to brighten up your landscape this winter

Cold-loving plants are a great way to brighten up your landscape during the dark and dull days of winter. They also provide countless psychological benefits!  Studies show that being able to look out on a green landscape is linked with less anxiety and depression, better stress management, enhanced memory retention, as well as increased creativity, productivity and attention.

Here are a few of our favourite winter plants:

Winterberry Holly

When most people think of Winterberry Holly, images of winter wreaths and other holiday-themed décor come to mind, but that’s not all this hardy plant is good for. Thanks to its vibrant red berries, this slow-growing deciduous shrub provides exceptional contrast to your snow-ridden lawn. It also lures in local wildlife, like birds and small mammals, craving a seasonal snack. Averaging anywhere from 3 to 15 feet tall, Winterberry is most attractive when grown as a hedge or in clumps together.

Japanese Yew

Japanese yew is an evergreen widely grown for decorative purposes. With its spiny needles and red ornamental fruits, this low-maintenance plant is perfect for hiding foundations or creating hedges. Similar to winterberry holly, this evergreen has a long history of use during the holiday season. However, unlike winterberry, Japanese yew is able to grow up to 50 feet tall.

Siberian Cypress

Looking for a wide-spreading evergreen to brighten up your winter landscape? Consider the Siberian cypress. The low-growing shrub exhibits bright green feathery foliage that transforms to a brown-purple shade during colder weather. This elegant yet hardy shrub works best in rock gardens or as a low-maintenance ground cover.

Snowberry

Known for its clusters of signature white berries, this deciduous shrub is a winter garden delight! During the winter, the snowberry, also known as waxberry, reveals leafless thin branches that spotlight its snow-white berries. Well-suited as a hedge or standalone, if you plant this shrub, expect overwintering birds like robins and thrushes to flock to your yard to take advantage of its delicious berries.

Red Twig Dogwood

With its tall bright red branches, this next shrub will provide your landscape with the pop of colour you’ve been yearning for. Red twig dogwood is incredibly versatile, suitable in containers, as hedging and edging, or screening. Hardy and long-lived, you can count on this shrub to add beauty to your landscape no matter the season.

Winter Heath

Hardy, bright, low-growing, and versatile, the winter heath is a year-round evergreen shrub that is a must for winter landscapes! With its wide variety of bell-shaped pink and magenta flowers that bloom from November to April this vibrant shrub will surely add a splash of colour to your garden.

Lighten up your landscape this winter

Plants aren’t the only way you can enhance your landscape. Outdoor LED lighting can also provide brightness during the winter’s notoriously cold and short days.

To illustrate how advantageous LED landscape lighting can be, especially during the winter season, here are some of its most notable benefits:

• Accentuates key features of your home: Nothing shows off your home better than a tasteful display of lights. In doing so, you can create the perfect ambience for your space.
• Affordable and Energy Efficient: LED lighting is a simple yet effective solution to landscape lighting that is good for both you and the environment. LED bulbs use up to 90 percent less energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
• Visual Appeal: Adding LED lighting to your landscape increases your property’s overall aesthetic while creating a more welcoming environment.
• Safety and Security: Poor outdoor lighting can result in slips and falls. By illuminating your front yard, backyard, and the sides of your house, outdoor LED lighting can effectively light the way for your guests and prevent accidents.

Winter landscaping made easy with Tree Amigos

If you’re thinking about brightening up your outdoor space this winter, let us help! As one of the premier landscaping companies in NOTL, we can help you liven up your landscape not just this winter, but in all four seasons!

Tree Amigos is a full-service landscaping company located in NOTL experienced in creating award-winning landscapes throughout the Niagara Region. If you’re ready to spruce up your outdoor space, contact us by phone at (905) 468-9557 or email us at info@treeamigoslandscaping.com. You can also request a quote by using or simple budgeting tool.