Nashville winters can be dull and dreary, but your home’s landscaping doesn’t need to be. With the right planning, you can enjoy an outdoor sanctuary replete with vibrant evergreens, winter-blooming shrubs, ornamental grasses, and texturally enhanced hardscape elements that spark a sense of warmth and luxury all season long.
By partnering with our expert team at Landscape Solutions, together we can create an outdoor space you’ll look out upon with pride, whether you’re taking in this sumptuous vignette from the comfort of your living room or enjoying a hot chocolate or coffee drink on your well-appointed patio.
Ready to transform your front and backyard garden areas into spaces that take you from season to season without the threat of winter-imposed landscape doldrums?
Unique Winter Landscaping Ideas Designed to Impress
Fall is just the right time to get started on your winter landscape and plants in Nashville. The milder autumn weather gives newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials a better chance to establish a strong root network, and, as summer plants fade, you’ll have a clearer view of areas that could use additional evergreens, woody ornamentals, or plants with colorful berries for extra dimension and visual interest.
Add privacy, greenery, and structure with evergreens like holly (e.g., Nellie R. Stevens Holly, Mary Nell Holly), boxwood, juniper, or cedar.
Boxwood is an especially versatile classic that’s ideal for formal hedging. It comes in a variety of sizes and shapes to complement the scale of your landscaping while intentionally drawing the eye out across the property and back toward your home. Use it to line your walkway or as an elegant property border with sharp, consistent lines.
Evergreen holly, known for its green, needle-point leaves and striking scarlet berries, is also an impactful choice for home landscapes that transitions wonderfully into the warmer months. Incorporate this contrasting evergreen as a year-round foundation shrub, a focal point or accent tree, or to create a dense privacy hedge or screen. Common evergreen hollies include Nellie R. Stevens Holly and Mary Nell Holly varieties.
Junipers are a great choice for their hardiness, adaptability, and for the sense of majesty they add to a property. Incorporate them as ground cover, specimen plants, foundation plantings, or accent plants.
Ever versatile, Eastern red cedars (Juniperus virginiana) (fun fact—the Eastern red “cedar” is actually a juniper) provide privacy, support birds and wildlife, and contribute to a classic evergreen look, while their lacy foliage and peeling bark add visual interest and texture. The Eastern red cedar also turns a bronzy-green in winter, offering a subdued variation among your other landscaping elements.
Trees and Plants That Add Character to Your Yard
For a splash of sophistication, our specialized crew can talk to you about layering in plants that bring texture, color, and additional contrast. During winter, when most gardens retreat into dormancy, these options will thrive, bringing a subtle, classic beauty to your garden.
Deciduous river birch and crape myrtle offer striking bark patterns that become more apparent when their leaves drop. These peeling textures add a sculptural element to your landscaping, making them prized trees in winter. Peeling river birch tree trunks reveal a mix of salmon, cinnamon, peach, and lavender tones, while crape myrtles offer shades of cream, tan, cinnamon-red, and olive brown.
Don’t Overlook the Power of Ornamental Grass and Winter-Blooming Shrubs
The addition of ornamental grass (such as feather reed grass) adds movement and the soft sounds of rustling stalks to your outdoor areas. The seed plumes change from a pinkish-purple in summer to a golden tan in fall and winter, and are ideal for formal or more modern garden designs, where clean, vertical lines offer a grand architectural feature.
Winter-blooming shrubs like winter jasmine (known for its arching green branches dotted with bright yellow flowers) and Chinese witchhazel (which blooms in mid-to-late winter) both offer a lovely fragrance and a welcome splash of color. Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) is another bright addition to a winter landscape. Our landscape design team can show you how to incorporate these beauties for the greatest impact and longevity.
Hardscape and Lighting Details to Enhance Your Garden Areas
For a winter garden aesthetic worthy of a Southern Home feature, work with our designers to integrate hardscape and lighting features that play off the winter weather for a cozy, upscale vibe. Additions like fire features, benches, stone pathways, and cozy nooks for morning coffee and evening spirits or herbal tea can turn winter into your new favorite season.
Add custom lighting to illuminate your outdoor spaces during shorter days. Accessory lighting enhances your backyard design by casting a sophisticated luminescence across your patio, garden, and landscaping.
A Winter Design That Spans the Seasons
While evergreen beauty may be the jumping-off point for your winter landscaping project, designing with all four seasons in mind offers value, function, and the year-round happiness that only a well-manicured yard can deliver.
The integration of local cedars, glossy green holly, and trees with trunks in shades of cinnamon and tan creates natural beauty. Architectural shrubbery delineates each space, while feather reed and other grasses add motion and calm. Design features that bring outdoor spaces full circle tie everything together. Together, these elements create tailored outdoor opulence, setting your home apart for its elegance and attention to detail.
Exceptional Design Packages for Discerning Nashville Homeowners
At Landscape Solutions, we offer three different design packages to suit your landscaping goals. These include the Planting Plan, the Partial Property Plan, and our Master Plan.
To help you with your selection, we begin every project with a consultation where your vision, priorities, and budget are discussed. Once we’ve settled on the right plan for you, our team will create a detailed design and layout aimed at transforming your home’s outdoor areas into the luxurious retreat you’ve always imagined.
Get started on those privacy trees you’ve envisioned for too long now, add some river birch or crape myrtle for splashes of contrast, and perhaps include a firepit area with custom lighting for an irresistible gathering space you can enjoy with friends and family for years to come.
We specialize in creating outdoor sanctuaries that convey elegance, structure, and warmth, even during Nashville’s grayest winters. From vibrant evergreens to custom hardscapes and dramatic lighting, our team is here to help you make the most of your outdoor lifestyle at home.
Ready to transform your yard into a winter-resilient showcase? Let’s take your backyard plans off the back burner and create something extraordinary this season. Get in touch with our Nashville-based experts at Landscape Solutions.