Winter is a time to plan the spring and summer garden. During late autumn when frosts arrive, many gardens become drab and lifeless. However, with a little planning, the winter garden can have its own beauty. Examine your garden's bones - its underlying design, walls, hedges, pathways and outstanding plant specimens and other focal points. A good place to start improving the winter garden is the view from a favorite window.
Winter is when gardeners look more often and longer at the outdoors.
Consider adding deciduous trees and shrubs with colorful bark and evergreens with interesting forms for the winter view. Opinion has changed dramatically in the past few years regarding fall garden cleanup. Although it's still a good idea to completely clean up the vegetable garden in fall to reduce disease incidence, don't hurry to remove most flowering perennial plants. Research has shown that it's actually beneficial to retain the plant's dried foliage. It provides groundcover and helps catch snow at the base of plants for moisture retention.