The season is wrapping up, and your plants are starting to die, but you may not want your beautiful garden to end. The falling trees are experiencing great fall foliage. But, with winter coming up, we need to think ahead to what to prepare for next! There are some native plants that remain beautiful year-round to admire even in the most dead part of winter. Up next, you will hear about some of the very best plants for winter that are always great choices during the freezing months.

Aronia or (Chokeberry) is a dependable tree in landscaping. Native plants have blooms in Spring, berries in Summer, and bright Fall foliage. Dark purple berries are produced in Winter for beautiful winter accent colors and food for the bird types in the area.

Winterberries are a good example of winter growth. They love acidic soils and can be found growing in parts of northern Minnesota. Their bright red berries have an eye-catching color. They mainly grow in groups and can provide habitat and food for wildlife. These should not be consumed by humans or animals. Winterberries grow their very when planted in clusters and in the wild.

Hydrangea’s wild popularity is well known. These plants are very lovely in your landscaping. The flowers give so much more texture to your winter landscape after all the leaves have fallen, and can have a new purpose in your winter pots. They are very simple to keep up with and able to withstand the weather. Hydrangeas are great for landscape all year long.

Deciduous trees are often overlooked when thinking about winter plant attraction because they lose their leaves in the fall.

Amur Cherry’s bright shiny appearing bark and thin branches are very formal set in front of a snowy scene.

Coralberry & Snowberry trees are also one to consider. They have bright pink and white berry clusters on the branches. These are another lovely winter backdrop for peaceful areas. They are food for many native bird kinds, as well as acting as pollinators in the summer months. You will need to trim them back in the early Spring for control of growth.

A sweet gum is a deciduous tree that ranges in height from around 50 to 100 feet and has a thin oval canopy with a spread of 40 to 60 feet. They are medium-sized, winter trees home to the eastern and south-central United States. You can see them placed from the south into Mexico and Central America. Their range in the United States is anywhere from New Jersey, south-eastern Connecticut, southeastern Pennsylvania, south to Florida, and east Texas.

They will typically grow in low lying country areas and valleys, and you most likely won’t find these in the Appalachian Mountains. Some species have been known to grow over 120 feet tall, but this is very uncommon. The negative side of growing a sweetgum tree is having to deal with the seed pods. You have probably heard little kids call them gumballs or stickerballs, and it is very rare to find a child with a sweetgum growing nearby that hasn’t had a rough experience with them. As you grow up you will realize how much of a pain they are. They can roll underfoot and cause you to fall, especially on paved places.

Even though sweetgum trees are mainly planted as sidewalk or street trees, their roots are not deep and can lift up on sidewalks and curbs. If you are looking to plant a sweetgum, keep it at least 10 feet from pavements and concrete to bypass harm. When gumballs fall they can be very hazardous on pavements which is yet another reason to keep them away from sidewalks and driveways. Sweetgums need a place in full sun or some shade. They grow in pretty much any soil, whether it be mostly sand or clay.

They have a lot of shallow roots, but they also have some deep roots that need moist, thick soil. Once the tree is planted, sweetgums are very low maintenance. It is not necessary that you fertilize them every year, but they like some general purpose fertilizer or compost every couple years. The trees are able to tolerate droughts and do not need to be watered once they are grown.