Designing the Ohio garden

During the long winters, it can seem like all is calm and nothing's stirring. The trees are barren of leaves. Water is frozen. As far as the eye can see there is a blanket of whiteness.

How then, can you add a splash of winter color to your yard amid the barren winter landscape? Which tree is the best choice? How can you create a landscape that is wildlife-friendly and may help reduce the negative effects of habitat loss in suburbia? To design an effective landscape that looks good year round in Ohio, one should consider the benefits of evergreens and deciduous native plants. They can bring color and dimension to your space as well as attract birds and squirrels. A balanced landscape design gives your eye something of interest to fall upon as you gaze out your window on bleak winter mornings.

Psychologically the color green produces a calming effect and relieves the eye of strain. Green has the most shades of all colors in nature. Picking plants from dark green to bluish green to yellowish green to amber green provides texture and tone for your yard. Between shrubs and trees with leaves or needles, each provides a balance of deciduous trees that thrive in summer months and evergreens that provide a green backdrop even amid the snow.  

Crabapple trees provide beautiful flowers in the spring and fruit that stay on the tree even through January. Crabapple trees are a valuable food source for birds and many other animals.

If you want birds to nest in your yard then the common witch-hazel is a good shrub choice. It blooms in October after all the fall foliage has dropped.

Certain Dogwoods have yellow, orange or red stems that stand out against the white barrenness of snow and provide a vibrant visual interest on the winter palette.

Not only does color add variety to a winter scene but also does the varying sizes and shapes of trees.

The American sycamores provide a favorite resting space for birds with a wide canopy that takes over much of the space. This giant tree has "scales" that flake off in the summer and reveal white wood underneath.

When designing your garden landscape the consideration of native plants helps wildlife in that they provide the best quality of food. Local species have adapted to making the most of native plants.

Choosing a native plant when designing your outdoor space provides a wildlife-friendly environment that offers food, cover or shelter from prey, and a place for animals to raise their young. Species that benefit the most from a native plant habitat are birds, bees, butterflies as well as squirrels and other mammals. Native plants are adapted to local conditions of the area from the type of soil to the quantity of annual rainfall, wind, as well as seasonal temperatures. Native plants simply require less care and maintenance and thrive in existing soil conditions.

Arrowwood and Blackhaw Viburnum are native plants to Ohio and are often used as hedges. Their fruit provide a valuable source of food for birds.

Other native plant choices for Ohio are crabapple, mountain ash, hawthorn, sassafras, flowering dogwood, oak, and beechnut.  

A row of evergreen trees can provide shelter or barrier from harsh winter winds keeping your home warmer and reducing your heating costs. If you live close to the freeway, these trees can offer sound proofing protection. They can also work as a natural visual fence against seeing things that are unsightly or unattractive.

Native evergreen conifers that provide good wind protection in Ohio include:

Common Juniper 

Eastern Red Cedar 

White Pine 

Norway spruce 

Green giant arborvitae 

Eastern white pine 

Colorado blue spruce 

White cedar 

Douglas fir 

Native deciduous trees that provide food or shelter for local wild life as well as visual interest to your Ohio landscape include:

American Basswood 

American Beech 

Boxelder 

Black Cherry 

Black Maple 

Black Oak 

Common Chokecherry 

Eastern Cottonwood 

Flowering Dogwood 

Honeylocust

Hackberry

Mockernut Hickory 

Ohio Buckeye 

Paw Paw

Red Bud 

Red Maple 

Red Mulberry 

Red Oak 

Red or Green Ash 

Scarlet Oak 

Shagbark Hickory 

Silver Maple 

Sweetbay Magnolia 

Tuliptree 

White Oak 

Native shrubs choices include: 

Arrowwood

Black Chokecherry 

Blackshaw

Bladdernut

Cockspur Hawthorn 

Common Ninebark 

Common Winterberry

Dogwood

Elderberry

Maple-leaf Viburnum 

Nannyberry

Running Strawberry Bush 

Smooth Sumac 

Spicebush

Thicket Hawthorn 

Washington Hawthorn 

Trees NOT native to Ohio can become invasive by quickly outcompeting and killing other plants. These are plants that you avoid.  

Barberry 

European Buckthorn

Honeysuckle

Multiflora Rose 

Privet 

Russian Olive

START PLANNING!

Winter is the ideal time to plan for the landscape changes you want to make in spring. Remember to incorporate the winter landscape into your design.

If you would like tree recommendations for your yard, give our design team a call 937-750-7799. Landscape design service fee $100.

Written By Betty Bassett

Reference:

https://www.independenttree.com/benefits-native-plants-winter-landscape/