How to create a winter wonderland in your garden

Halloween is over, Bonfire Night is done, now it’s time to focus on the most exciting event of the year: Christmas! You may be done tending to your garden for the year, but you can still make the most out of your back yard by turning it into a winter wonderland that both adults and kids will enjoy. Whether it snows or not this Christmas, follow our four simple steps and you can create a seasonal garden that will be the envy of your neighbours.

Plan your colour scheme

If you don’t want the exterior of your home to be one of those over-the-top garish light displays that beam an assortment of rainbow colours into the night sky, then it’s advisable that you choose a colour scheme for your winter wonderland.

What you choose will ultimately be a matter of personal taste. You could go with the Christmas classics of red and green, go regal with a touch of silver and gold, or be understated with muted blues, teals, whites. These aren’t hard and fast rules — get creative and see what works for you.

Incorporate some festive plants

Many people think that planting flowers in winter is impossible, but this isn’t the case. Of course, evergreens are always a popular addition to any winter garden, but you can still enjoy the beauty of flowering plants too. Some popular winter flowers include:

• Japanese quince: Bright orange-red flowers that can also be white or pink.
• Snowdrops: White drooping bell-shaped flowers that like to grow near trees.
• Winterberry: A North American shrub that will bring red berries to your garden.
• Witch hazel: Wiry flowers that can be red, copper, or yellow.
• Glory of the Snow: Star-shaped blue or pink flowers with white centres.

Let nature do the work and turn your plants into decorations. Wyevale Garden Centres has a great guide on how to do just that.

Light it up

With the long winter nights comes the need for external lighting, and this is a great opportunity to incorporate some festive elements into your winter wonderland. The lights you choose will completely change the overall look and feel of your outside area. You can go for big bright flashy colours if you like, but we prefer something a little classier.

Consider lighting up some of your trees with warm white LEDs to make them really pop at night. Festoon lighting is also becoming an increasing popular way to light up gardens in an elegant way. Whether you decide to add a light-up reindeer or Santa Claus is up to you, but we’d recommend keeping it classy.

Add the finishing touches

No winter wonderland is complete without some decoration. Trees are the most obvious target for decoration as we already do that inside, and you’ll find tying festive ribbons to branches and decorating with baubles and tinsel works just as well as it does indoors — although you’ll have to tie them more securely to protect against the wind. You can also hang wreaths and garlands anywhere you like for a touch of Christmas class. Get creative and make your own decorations at home — it’s surprisingly easy, as this guide from Save On Crafts explains.

If you want to take your winter wonderland a step further, you’re going to need snow. Sadly we can’t rely on Mother Nature to provide it for us on demand, but you can get some great artificial snow to complete your wintry look. How you do it is up to you, but covering the base and branches of your trees can create an almost magical look. If you decide to go for fake snow, Snow Supermarket has you covered.

Hopefully we’ve sparked your creativity and given you some ideas to create your own winter wonderland. No matter what you decide to do, make sure you have fun doing it!