(Image courtesy Burst)

Unless you’re an avid gardener, you probably don’t think about planting after the first frost. But to get the type of incredible yard that shows off in the early new year, you’ll need to plant a splash of color with annuals, perennials, and shrubs that get in the ground before it freezes. And that still can be done!

Luckily for Northern Virginia, we have a longer growing season in hardiness zone 7b. So when selecting perennials for the garden, we can focus more on aesthetics and be freer to select lovely flowering plants to give our gardens ornamentation all year round.

With a little effort now, you’ll be able to enjoy some winter plants even on the shortest days of the year. Here are five plants and shrubs we suggest planting now for an incredible yard and great curb appeal in the new year:

Get your Incredible Yard By Planting These Things This Winter

RED TWIG DOGWOOD

Dramatic and delightful, red twig dogwoods are striking specimens, especially contrasted against a blanket of snow. While you might know them for their beautiful spring blossoms, the intense red color lasts all winter, and they are an incredibly cold-hardy shrub, too.

LEUCOJUM

These fragrant perennials are an ideal plant to add to your garden because they can withstand both a range of temperatures and most garden critters! Spring is their favorite time, but Leucojum is also known to offer up their snowdrop-like drooping heads while there is still snow on the ground, so plant this for an early floral appearance — perfect in rock gardens or on the edge of walkways. 

HELLEBORES

There are many different hybrids of hellebores, all with winter blooms that can last for several months! These stunning flowers, also sometimes called Lenten roses since they unfurl in mid to late winter often around the time of Lent, may look dainty and fragile, but they can actually withstand the harshest winter conditions. Because their flowers hang downwards, we suggest planting them in a raised flower bed or even on a hillside, to best enjoy them in the cold winter months. 

WINTERBERRY SHRUBS

This is a native deciduous holly, which sheds its leaves in fall, but is loaded with dazzling bright red berries all winter long. It gives your home a perfect holiday vibe from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day — and beyond. Birds love it, too, so you’ll attract them to your yard as well. We do suggest planting a dwarf variety so it won’t become too big and overshadow your other landscaping. 

PANSIES and VIOLAS

These charming annuals are the blooms that keep on bursting. They can handle light frosts, so they keep blooming from fall through winter and even drop seeds that pop up in spring. So choose from an array of pops of color — from lemon yellow to amethyst — and look forward to seeing noticeable blooms potentially all year long.

Did you know? Technically all pansies are violas since they were derived from violas, but not all violas are pansies. This is important since violas are hardier, and have more blooms per plant. This is good to know for your winter garden since violas will have more blooms in January and February than pansies will.

Whether you are sprucing up your home for yourself or to make it more attractive for potential buyers in the new year, we understand the importance of curb appeal. Contact LIST WITH ELIZABETH® for more information on how you can prepare your home for its top sales value today!