A Northeast Ohio landscaper talks about winter challenges in exterior design for outdoor living spaces and native plantings.
Northeast Ohio landscapes can stay vibrant year round. The secret isn’t just about evergreen plants. It’s about embracing an often-overlooked element that most homeowners and landscapers ignore entirely.
In this guide to winter landscapes, you'll find:
- How common landscaping approaches fail during Ohio’s harsh winters
- The beauty hidden in “brown” landscape elements during the off-season
- Professional techniques for designing four-season landscapes
- How leaving certain plants intact through winter creates stunning visual contrast
The reality of winter for Northeast Ohio landscaping companies
Winter in Northeast Ohio is a crapshoot at best for landscaping companies. There is nothing to prune, no weeds to pull, and no grass to cut. Those who have become the trailblazers of industry are the few that survive. We can continue building outdoor living spaces in winter, but this also has its variables (we build year-round unless the ground is frozen solid).
We aren’t “looking for things to do” in the winter by any means. One of our focal points in the winter is the investment of professional development with our staff. We put together programs that increase our team’s knowledge and efficiency in their careers. It’s exciting to see how some of my teammates have grown over the years. But maybe I can write about that in another post.
When Carmel Landscapes approaches winter landscape design, we consider:
- Structural plants that maintain form and interest through snow and ice
- Textured bark varieties that become focal points against white backgrounds
- Spent flower heads that create architectural elements in winter gardens
- Native plantings that support local wildlife during harsh months
- Strategic placement to maximize winter sun exposure and wind protection
When winter affects more than just plants
Here I’m going to focus on the struggles we face in the winter months. Our faces hurt, we fight sickness, and discover new noises in our joints. There is a medical name for this, but it’s all part of what we will call winter depression. It’s a real thing mentally when we look out into the vast blank scenery and are overburdened with a lack of motivation and heightened sadness.
Earlier in my career this haunted me as traditional winters had us working around the clock but somehow never seeing the sun. I really had to step back for a moment and solve this gloomy outlook. I tried running for a little bit, but that never made me happy even in the warm weather. I joined a Gym, but found my busy schedule didn’t allow me to execute that lifestyle.
The breakthrough that changed everything
So, I went back to writing with the goal of increasing our policy on subject matters and doing all the things a business owner should be doing to create a more robust, dependable company. I was wearing many hats at the time and to decompress one night I dove into a book about winter structure and how many landscapes lack this feature because they fall victim to the marketing of their local nurseries that shove spring color in every aisle and showcase currently blooming plants to move product.
This ultimately causes spring gardeners to lose interest by early summer after seeing their flowers fade from existence with no remorse to the amount of work that was put into planting and nurturing them.
The book gave me avenues I hadn’t explored before, elevating my skills and looking at the long-term growth of a landscape. To be truly successful in creating beautiful yards, designing them should focus on all 4 seasons and not just one or the other.
Discovering the secret of four-season design
I had to reinvent the way I looked at plants and their structure in their off-season to really make this work. Thankfully we became an eco friendly landscape company over a decade ago and this new all-year method only furthered our goals of creating beautiful sustainable landscapes.
Above selecting native plant materials that nurture that environment around it I was able to see past the modern landscaping practice of cutting everything back to the ground and wrapping boxwoods for the winter. I implemented a policy to enhance our designs that promoted winter structure with shrubs and trees that meandered toward the grey sky, providing contrast in the snow with their colored branches and textured barks that mostly go unnoticed in the warm months.
The beauty of brown: embracing winter's hidden palette
Perennials and herbaceous shrubs were selected to provide that smaller detail of brown from spent flowers in the landscape as we worked with our clients to encourage them to leave plants intact for the winter. Looking back, I’m really glad we started doing this. I’m able to find beauty that I wasn’t looking for before, utilizing year-round design techniques that change the way you look at your yard.
The fibrous structure of spent heads creates attractive aspects often overlooked in the dead of winter when everything else is grey and white. The brown hues poking their heads through the snow set off a distinct contrast from the other blinding blanket of white snow.
Professional winter landscape design for Greater Cleveland properties
Moving beyond traditional winter maintenance
The shift from our traditional approach, cutting everything back to the ground and wrapping boxwoods for the winter, to embracing natural winter structure has transformed how our clients experience their properties during Northeast Ohio’s long winter months.
This isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about creating services and landscapes that support the local ecosystem, provide habitat for overwintering wildlife, and give homeowners something beautiful to look at when they’re dealing with their own winter struggles.
Ready to reimagine your property into a four-season landscape that brings beauty even during Ohio’s harshest months? Carmel Landscapes specializes in sustainable, eco-friendly landscape design that embraces natural winter structure while supporting the local environment. Contact us to discover how we can help you see winter landscapes in an entirely new way.