Winter can be a bleak time for your yard, but with a few additions, you can ensure both color and usability through the colder months.

Trees

There are two ways to inject life into your winter landscape with trees. Many landscapers will point out that keeping evergreen trees in your garden will ensure color for your backyard in winter, but people often forget the value of trees with attractive bark. Being bare in the winter means that the color and texture of a tree’s bark is the primary aesthetic quality it will bring to your yard. Trees such as the paperbark maple have bark so interesting that they hardly need leaves. The paperbark maple has a thin, papery bark that peels off in delicate rolls of red and brown shades.

Related: Choosing Plantings that Look Like They’ve Been There for Years

Shrubs

As with trees, evergreen shrubs are always a good option. Likewise, shrubs can be chosen because of their attractive qualities when bare. The cornus sanguinea, also aptly known as the Winter Flame, is one shrub that blazes during winter. The bright red and orange of its bare branches and fan-like shape really do create the illusion of a flame, making it the perfect shrub to brighten your yard and keep the winter bleakness from your landscape.

A Winter Patio

Why only enjoy your outdoor spaces in summer? You can convert your patio into a special place to enjoy the outdoors even in the middle of winter with just a few provisions. Perhaps the most important item for a winter patio is some form of covering to keep the winter weather at bay and trap in the heat. Next, a source of heating - perhaps an outdoor fireplace to add the winter wonderland atmosphere. Lastly, a modicum of wind protection may be necessary. To do this, you can make sure your winter patio is placed in a shielded alcove, or have windscreens installed. The result? A cosy outdoor space to be enjoyed even as winter peaks.

Bright Colors

Fortunately, the shrubs and trees previously mentioned are not the only way to add color to your yard during winter. Colorful furniture and pillows in your outdoor spaces is another way to brighten up your backyard, and if you’re adventurous, you can always add a splash of bright paint to your entrance gates, front door, or key backyard features. Multiple colors can add some variation, but more than two or three colored accents is not necessary. A single bright feature can often be enough to brighten your winter landscape.

Lighting

In adding dimension, color and visibility to your front and backyard during winter, and indeed all year around, good outdoor lighting is a must. Whether you're looking to add sparkle to winter evenings or brighten up gloomy winter afternoons, lighting is a great way to create a cosy winter ambiance. Decorative string lighting is especially effective this time of year, adding to the season cheer, but regular ambient and functional light should also not be neglected. Lighting up your landscape with bright clean light will dazzle and charm while beating the winter blues.

Related: 6 Breathtaking Spotlighting Ideas for your Outdoor Lighting Plan