If you live in a place that get a bonny amount of snow , is it important to have evergreen perennials ? For many years we have consider this question around our editorial planning table , and the stave go down into two camp : those who say that ever - green perennials aren’tjustfor area that receive piddling to no Baron Snow of Leicester , and those who see no point in spend money on a family of plants that might be buried out of sight for more than three months .
I fall into the first category , and I ’ll tell you why . Climate change is happening , and with it the normal weather condition patterns of the past are being thrust out the window . One year in Connecticut ( where I inhabit ) we may have what is considered a typical wintertime take with foot upon foot of snow . The next yr — like the winter of 2023 — we may have a snow drought .
What does this signify for gardeners ? You ’ve got to garden for both possible outcome . That is why we ask an regalia of regional experts to share their favoriteevergreen perennial . There you ’ll find plant recommendations for the snow - prone Midwest as well as for the for the most part snow- spare Southwest . I do n’t live about you , but nothing is moredepressing to me than looking out my windows in February and seeingnothing but brown . I have some conifers and broadleafevergreens throughout my beds and border to keep things pretty interesting . But a with child portion of my landscape painting is made up of deciduous plant , which means things attend jolly bare in winter . A few year back , however , I add some selection perennial that stay green year - round , and they made the last snowless winter much more attractive . Thanks to the lack of snow cover , the bergenias , epimediums , andgingers put on a showy show for week on end , giving the fence in beige backcloth a streak for its money .
I make love most of the perennials you ’ll see in the regional pages of this issue go down below the 2 - foot - grandiloquent mark . So yes , if you get a snowstorm , those gems will be covered . But in the times between full snowfall reportage , they ’ll sparkle and provide some hope that saltation — and its luxuriance — is just around the bend . I do n’t regret expend money on my ‘ Miss Piggy ’ bergenia . It may only be 18 in improbable , but every one of those inches is beautiful when not much else is happening in the garden .
Contributing editors Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken may have said it best when it derive to the importance of these staple plants : “ As winter tangle on , it is the evergreen perennials that keep the garden ( and nurseryman ) stable . ”
See Issue # 215 now
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Naked stems are nice, but it’s the frosted foliage that really shines. In midwinter, evergreen bergenia leaves curl slightly, but their bulky presence is undeniably lovely. When paired with a backdrop of Siberian cypress conifers and yellow twig dogwoods, the garden looks alive with interest.
