Perfect Perennial Pairings for Winter Interest

Long Minnesota winters can often leave our gardens looking bare and lifeless, but with the right perennial plant pairings, you can enjoy beauty and texture year-round. By combining plants that offer seasonal interest, you can create a stunning winter landscape that will offer color, texture, and form across an otherwise barren landscape. When we think of winter interest in the garden, evergreens often come to mind first, with their lush foliage and year-round presence. However, there’s a world of other perennials that can offer stunning winter beauty as well. Choosing non-evergreen perennials for winter interest can bring unexpected texture, color, and structure to your garden. Let’s explore three perfect perennial pairings that will keep your garden vibrant long after the first frost!

Holly (Ilex)

Light

Full to Part-Sun (4-6+ hrs)

Attributes

A MN native deciduous shrub with clusters of bright red berries for winter interest. A dioecious plant, meaning the fruit-bearing female (‘Berry Poppins’/‘Red Sprite’) requires a male pollinator (‘Mr. Poppins’/‘Jim Dandy’) planted within ~50’ to produce berries.

Growth Habit

Upright, rounded

Soil Type

Loam

Bloom Color

White Bloom/Red Berries

Size

4-5’ H x 4-5’ W

Bloom Time

Late Spring to Early Summer

Use

Wonderful massed as a hedge and excellent for birds and other wildlife

Maintenance

Prune in early spring or late winter to maintain size and remove dead branches

Benefits

Wet and black walnut tolerant, supports wildlife, year-round interest

Stonecrop (Sedum)

Light

Full Sun(6+ hrs)

Attributes

A North American native deciduous shrub often with red or yellow stems that intensify in color in the fall, and fragrant white spring flowers followed by berries that are beloved by wildlife

Growth Habit

Upright, rounded, some forms slowly spreading

Soil Type

Loam

Bloom Color

White

Size

3-6’ H x 3-6’ W

Bloom Time

Late Spring to Early Summer

Use

Beautiful in foundation plantings, pollinator gardens, woodland gardens, rain gardens, pond and stream margins, or massed as a hedge.

Maintenance

Regular pruning every 2-3 years in early spring

Benefits

Tolerates wet and black walnut, resistant to deer and rabbit, provides four-season interest, attracts pollinators, winter food source for wildlife, low maintenance

Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis)

Light

Full to Part Sun (4-6+ hrs)

Attributes

A classic cool-season ornamental grass with green, sometimes variegated blades that form a dense, tidy upright clump. Blooms feathery plumes that emerge reddish brown and turn golden yellow in the fall.