Old Man Winter has finally officially arrived in the Shenandoah Valley with this blast of cold weather. If you are like me you find the winter landscape to be a little drab and lackluster. Apart from seeing the occasional Cedar or different varieties of Pine trees the majority of what we see is the bare branches of the once full and beautifully green trees. This does not mean that we cannot add tidbits of color to spruce up our landscapes and gardens until the spring blooms. Adding these dashes of color and some lighting can brighten the surrounding ominous grey we see when we look all around. Below we have compiled a few ideas that you can use to brighten and add depth to your exterior spaces to get you through these winter months.
Keeping some nice wintery plants like evergreens and holly bushes can separate the monochromatic color palette we are accustomed to in the winter. Keep in mind only female variety holly bushes produce the red berries.
Hanging new bird feeders near your windows will add the joys of viewing the colorful birds. You can add color and texture by adding evergreen branches and other hearty winter plants around the base of the bird feeder just to add splashes of color and to give it a more aesthetically pleasing view from inside your home.
By just adding some lighting to your entryway and/or front porch area can allow you to prolong the onset of the early dark winter days. Plus, this can add ambience with the lights, some lanterns or other lighted decorative objects.
Planters are a very easy and affordable way to brighten your landscape and garden any time of year but especially so during the winter. You can use leftover Christmas 
trimmings, any greenery from your garden, even birch logs and pieces of evergreen branches with some lighting creates a lovely feature. The possibilities with the planters can be quite endless with a little imagination. 
These are just a few of the simple suggestions to help get your drab winter landscape through to the full lushness of the spring blooms. It is never too early to think about your garden and landscape. If you are thinking of updating or changing your landscape, ideas big or small, please give us a call to schedule one of our landscape designers to come meet with you.
540-992-4845
Roanoke Landscapes 