Top 10 Trees to transform your Winter landscape

As Winter settles in, our landscapes transform into a serene canvas where even the barest branches tell a story. Winter interest trees add depth, texture, and splashes of colour, ensuring that gardens and parks remain engaging all season long. Their dramatic silhouettes, textured bark, and occasional bursts of berries or blooming flowers offer both visual intrigue and a reminder of nature’s flexibility.

Striking Silhouettes and Textured Beauty

Cornus alba siberica - Millbrook - June 2021

In the coldest months, these trees reveal their hidden beauty. Bold outlines cut against wintry skies highlight the tree’s character. Whether it’s a peeling bark that unveils a fresh layer each year or a uniquely contoured branching structure. This inherent drama transforms bleak landscapes into intriguing outdoor galleries that impress both the casual observer and the dedicated gardener.

Pops of Colour and Unexpected Blooms

Cornus alba siberica - Lot 3 Mica Ridge - June 2019

Not all Winter trees wear a cloak of monotony. Some surprise you with vibrant berries, while others capture attention with delicate, flower-like accents and shifting hues from Autumn to Spring. These colourful displays enrich the Winter scene by softening harsh edges and introducing subtle yet striking contrasts. The interplay of light with shimmering stems and dynamic leaf colours ensures that Winter remains a season of beauty and change.

Featured Winter Selections

BETULA ‘Jacquemontii’ Himalayan Birch

BETULA ‘Jacquemontii’ - Himalayan Birch

Our most popular Silver Birch, famed for its neat upright form and shimmering white stem that peels every year to reveal a new layer. The handsome, dark green leaves turn to gold in Autumn before falling. Effective in avenue or group plantings.

CAMELLIA ‘Fairy Blush’ - Pink Flowering Camellia

A Winter wonder, the ‘Fairy Blush’ has delightful small, pink flowers. As the buds open, they turn white and provide a velvety aesthetic to soften the harsh edges of Winter. Leaves are leathery and ovate, creating a contrasting backdrop colour.

CAMELLIA ‘Fairy Blush’ Pink Flowering Camellia
CAMELLIA ‘Setsugekka’ White Flowering Camellia

CAMELLIA ‘Setsugekka’ - White Flowering Camellia

Prized for the large, semi-double flowers of the freshest white punctuated by bright yellow stamens, this lightly fragrant plant has a lengthy blooming season. The ovate leaves will remain green all year, making it ideal for formal hedging or in a courtyard.

CHAENOMELES ‘Yokuku’ - Flowering Quince

A deciduous small tree with stems that are barren from mid-Winter to Spring. Has a profusion of white flowers, with classical yellow stamens, adding colour in the Winter months. Native birds certainly appreciate the Winter show, eagerly feasting on the nectar.

CHAENOMELES ‘Yokuku’ Flowering Quince
CORNUS Alba ‘Siberica’ Red-Stemmed Dogwood

CORNUS Alba ‘Siberica’ - Red-Stemmed Dogwood

If ever there is a plant to bring some fiery passion to Winter, it is the ‘Siberica’. The coral red stems form a flaming nest of warmth that looks especially good against snowfall. In Spring, white to yellow flowers soften the appearance, these form berries late Summer.

GARRYA Elliptica ‘James Roof’ - Silk Tassel Tree

This tree has a strong, vigorous form, with large leathery foliage of deep greens. However, there’s a softened edge to the looks, with unusually long-tassel flowers of up to 22cm in length, emerging during Winter for a decorative show.

GARRYA Elliptica ‘James Roof’ Silk Tassel Tree
ILEX ‘Hendersonii’ Smooth Leaf Holly

ILEX ‘Hendersonii’- Smooth Leaf Holly

Those smooth, dark-green leaves shine in the sunlight, sometimes making the colour appear lighter. Small, white flowers herald the beginning of Spring, then give way to clusters of bright red berries in Autumn. Makes an attractive hedge.

Supplied by Easy Big Trees.
Credits to Mercy Hospital and wonderful gardeners there.

PRUNUS Serrula - Birch Bark Cherry

It’s the mahogany-brown trunk that sets this tree apart. It’s shiny and wonderfully carved with flaking lines of bark. Mid-green and willow like, the foliage assumes attractive yellow tones in Autumn. After Winter, small white flowers appear in Spring.

PRUNUS Serrula Birch Bark Cherry
SOPHORA ‘Dragons Gold’ Small Native Kowhai

SOPHORA ‘Dragons Gold’ - Small Native Kowhai

A smaller growing kowhai with a bushy green form and long, slender pinnate leaves of lime to mid-green, Dragons Gold is famed for the golden bell-shaped flowers that appear in early Winter, then again in Spring. An attractive small tree.

VIBURNUM Tinus Evergreen Viburnum

This is a medium sized plant that introduces some year-round cheer to any landscape. As other plants fade in Winter, ‘Eve Price’ produces these popcorn-like red-pink buds that open up to star shaped white flowers, a perfect contrast to the deep green leaves.

Supplied by Easy Big Trees.
Credits to Mercy Hospital and wonderful gardeners there.

VIBURNUM Tinus Evergreen Viburnum

In a Nutshell

These selections bring structure, warmth, and vivid character to your Winter landscape. Let each tree be a conversation piece that transforms the cold season into a gallery of natural art.

Harry Winter planting tips: One way to keep your hands warm in Winter is to keep them busy with some planting! It might sound like a strange time to do this but we’re operating on nature’s timeline here, and nature is making sure the soil is moist, while keeping bugs and plant diseases at bay. Your new plants will appreciate the time getting used to their new home before Spring kicks in.
Harry Winter Fruit Tree Pruning Tips: It's true alright. Some work now will reap a bountiful harvest next Summer, when you really do get to enjoy the fruits of your labour. The key is to stick to the 3 D's of pruning, getting rid of anything that's dead, diseased or damaged. Go about your work on a dry day and wear a few layers, so you can take them off as needed. Different fruit trees need to be pruned slightly differently but in general, just remember to not get too carried away. Trimming back by about 20% is a good rule of thumb.
Testimonial banner, Anna, Central Otago
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