Plenty of plants, trees can add splashes of color to your garden to fight drab winters

Winter can be such a dreary time of year, bereft of color unless you treasure white and tan. Some broadleaved evergreens such as Mahonias develop a maroon sheen to their leaves, and others just curl downward, holding in their moisture and whatever heat they can discover. We used to have a Korean Spice Viburnum on the south side of the house that was a living thermometer in winter. I could judge how cold it was by the curl of its leaves. Then we moved it out of sight for remodel.

There are, however, other choices for color than the common-needled or scale-leafed conifers, Mahonia, Euonymus and other evergreen shrubs. For one thing, think of bark color. Red or yellow-twigged dogwood, properly grown and regularly pruned, brightens gray days. If not pruned regularly, they’ll outgrow the color, and can grow into large, drab shrubs. The bark color appears only on new growth. Another colorful winter woody is the Japanese maple “Bihou.” In spring and summer, leaves are vividly chartreuse; the leaves drop in winter, revealing brilliant gold bark on trunk and limbs.

Anju Lucas, manager of perennials at Edwards Greenhouse, is enthusiastic about a dwarf lodgepole pine, Chief Joseph, that has green needles in summer that turn to a glowing gold in winter. She said it’s slow-growing, and the color is startlingly vivid.

Another shrub she’s enthusiastic about is “Blue Surprise” Chamaecyparis lawsoniana. If you’re reworking your landscape and/or feel you must use oil sprays on dormant growth, be sure you don’t plant “blue” evergreens close to green growth, for the oil sprays that hit blue conifers remove the blue aspect of the needles. Blue is really a wax over green that makes needles appear blue. The blue will reappear in time, but you may wonder why your Colorado blue spruce is suddenly green.

In the ornamental garden, Heucheras of various hues and patterns on leaves relieve the whites and tans of your landscape, and Hellebores send up new leaves and even blossoms for winter interest. There’s not much opportunity for vases of cut flowers from a winter Treasure Valley yard, but you can cut Hellebore blossoms and float them in water for a stunning dinner centerpiece.

Dandelions, violets and calendulas may be blossoming nearly year-round, and snowdrops appear earlier than expected. They’re mostly white, so they don’t excite your color receptacles, but they are flowers. They’re quickly followed by winter aconite’s yellow blossoms and crocus of many colors. If your area isn’t overrun by squirrels, you may enjoy some species crocus planted in your lawn. By the time you mow your lawn, they’ll have bloomed and faded, and their leaves are no longer important to the bulb, so they can be mowed, too. Squirrels dig and eat the bulbs, but they may miss a few. I’d recommend any color but white, since that looks like blown-in shipping popcorn from a distance.

One of the first shrubs to leaf out and bloom in my yard is the “Sweet Breath of Spring” honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima). It spreads and would like to take over the entire yard, but to cut it back means very early removal of old trunks, because saucy little birds set up early nests in it. You can’t blame them, for its thick branches bar predators, and the blossoms and fruit feed their babies.

Primulas are next, and I’ve found siting them against the eastern side of the house is a good location for perennializing them and for their reproducing. They’re joined by the Arum italicum, sitting through winter with glossy green leaves, waiting for someone to notice it. I used to have one Iris reticulata in that bed, but it’s not there now. Somehow another popped up south of the house. It’s a very tiny version of iris, 4 inches in height.

▪ If you’re already sick of winter, go to Edwards Greenhouse and enjoy their Pop-Up-Park in one of their huge greenhouses, where they’re featuring green grass and the aromas of growing flowers, shrubs and trees (maybe even some banana trees). It’s all free. Take a picnic lunch, and please don’t litter. It’s open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Feb. 2.