Seasonal Features for a Year-Round Landscape

Winter Interest

Winter is the time of year when you rely less on color and more on form and structure in the garden. Evergreens become more dominant in the landscape and deciduous trees and shrubs become transparent, creating striking silhouettes. Silhouettes and interesting branching patterns add structural “bones” to the landscape. Colorful barks and those that flake and peel reveal dramatic patterns and colors along trunks and stems. Evergreen foliage takes center stage or can act as a backdrop for colorful stems. Persistent berries, fruits, and seed pods add winter interest, while some attract birds and wildlife.

Spring Interest

Spring lets a well-planned landscape surround you with eye-catching flowers from ground covers to tree crowns. Every day reveals a new change. Shrubs are the filler plants of the landscape, creating mass and giving the garden year-round appeal. Newly emerging foliage marks the transition from winter to spring on trees and shrubs, while spring wildflowers and bulbs provide color nearer the ground. More shrub species bloom in spring than any other time of year, and they can tie together the color from trees above and flowers on the ground. Fragrant flowers and foliage uplift the ever-changing landscape.

Summer Interest

A summer garden relies more heavily on interesting tree and shrub foliage as a framework or backdrop for summer perennial flowers. Fine-textured plants add an airy, weightless quality to the garden, whereas bold-textured foliage jumps forward to grab your attention. Choose plants with silvery, golden, or purple foliage to enrich the garden. Maturing green foliage adds a restful and relaxing color in the garden. Summer flowering plants continue their sequence of fragrance and color while attracting a variety of pollinating insects. As flowers fade, foliage, texture, and shapes can uplift the garden.

Autumn Interest

Autumn is a brilliant season for color. To maximize the use of autumn color, create mixed borders that contrast and combine foliage, autumn flowers, brilliant berries, and silvery grasses. Autumn provides an outstanding array of colors, including fiery reds, translucent oranges, clear and buttery yellows, warm russet, and rich browns. Along with changing foliage, decorative, ripening fruits and berries put on a stunning display.

Tree Recommendations

The following list provides information about trees that are ornamental through all four seasons, or trees that are so exceptional in one or two seasons of ornamentation that they would add significantly to the four-season garden. To find additional options, try The Morton Arboretum’s Search Trees and Plants database.

Acer griseum (paper-barked maple)
Spring: New growth light green, contrasts well with bark
Summer: Blue-green foliage
Autumn: Russet-red fall color
Winter: Cinnamon-bronze exfoliating bark

Acer x freemanii ‘Marmo’ (Marmo Freeman maple) (hybrid of two native maple species)
Spring: Small red flowers
Summer: Deeply lobed medium green leaves with silver-gray underside; colorful red petioles
Autumn: Attractive blend of maroon and red offset with green fall color
Winter: Upright-oval silhouette

Acer miyabei ‘Morton’ STATE STREET™ (Miyabe’s maple)
Spring: Delicate yellow flowers appear with new foliage
Summer: Handsome dark bark and green foliage
Autumn: Butter yellow to golden fall color
Winter: Distinctive upright pyramidal habit

Acer triflorum (three-flowered maple)
Spring: Pubescent foliage emerges along with yellow flowers
Summer: Dark green foliage
Autumn: Orange-red fall color on selected trees
Winter: Tan and brown bark peels away as tree matures

Amelanchier x grandiflora (apple serviceberry)
Spring: Showy white flowers; new leaves emerge bronze-red
Summer: Rosy red berries in summer
Autumn: Excellent orange-red fall color
Winter: Silvery-gray bark; elegant multi-stemmed silhouette

Betula nigra (river birch) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: New foliage bright green; tan catkins
Summer: Glossy, dark green leaves
Autumn: Yellow fall color
Winter: Highly ornamental, papery, tan to cinnamon peeling bark

Carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Light green leaves
Summer: Dark green textured foliage with contrasting light green, dangling seed pods
Autumn: Yellow-orange-red fall color (varies with cultivars)
Winter: Smooth, dark gray, fluted bark

Cercidiphyllum japonicum (katsura tree)
Spring: New foliage emerges reddish-purple
Summer: Lovely blue-green, heart-shaped leaves
Autumn: Mixed fall color of yellow, orange and apricot; cotton candy-scented foliage
Winter: Graceful, pyramidal silhouette; flaky bark

Cercis canadensis (redbud) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Small, bright magenta flowers cover the tree in early spring
Summer: Interesting heart-shaped leaves
Autumn: Mild yellow fall color
Winter: Multi-trunked and can provide unusual winter forms

Cornus alternifolia (pagoda dogwood) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: White, flat-topped flowers
Summer: Deep purple berries in midsummer
Autumn: Reddish-purple fall color
Winter: Striking horizontal tiered branches; multi-stemmed silhouette

Cornus mas (cornelian-cherry dogwood)
Spring: Clusters of small, yellow flowers in early spring
Summer: Glossy dark green leaves; oblong, cherry-red fruits
Autumn: Yellow-brown fall color
Winter: Attractive mottled tan and gray bark

Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’ (Winter King hawthorn)
Spring: Showy clusters of white flowers in late spring
Summer: Fine-textured, glossy green leaves
Autumn: Showy orange-red berries persistent through winter
Winter: Flat-topped horizontal silhouette; bark flakes to reveal orange patches

Fagus sylvatica (European beech)
Spring: Late emerging light green foliage
Summer: Glossy dark green leaves
Autumn: bronze-yellow fall color
Winter: Smooth silvery-gray bark; elegant pyramidal silhouette; retains some leaves throughout winter

Liriodendron tulipifera (tuliptree) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Orange and green, tulip-like flowers in late spring
Summer: Uniquely-shaped leaves in summer
Autumn: Rich yellow fall color
Winter: Tall tree form with very straight trunk

Prunus sargentii (Sargent’s cherry)
Spring: Beautiful pink flowers in early spring
Summer: Medium-textured green foliage
Autumn: Yellow to bronze-red fall color
Winter: Distinctive red to chestnut brown shiny bark

Syringa pekinensis (Peking lilac)
Spring: Large, dark green foliage early in season
Summer: Large, creamy-white fragrant flowers in early summer
Autumn: Ornamental persistent seedheads;mild yellow fall color
Winter: Handsome exfoliating cherry-like bark

Taxodium distichum (bald-cypress) (native to North America and Southern Illinois)
Spring: Fresh, light green needles emerge in spring
Summer: Regular, pyramidal shape covered with dark green needles
Autumn: Russet fall color
Winter: Regular pyramidal shape

Shrub Recommendations

The following list provides information about shrubs that are ornamental through all four seasons, or shrubs that are so exceptional in one or two seasons of ornamentation that they would add significantly to the four-season garden. To find additional options, try The Morton Arboretum’s Search Trees and Plants database.

Aesculus parviflora (bottlebrush buckeye) (native to North America)
Spring: New yellow-green foliage changing to medium green
Summer: Large, white bottlebrush-shaped flower clusters in mid-summer
Autumn: Yellow fall color
Winter: Suckering, multi-stemmed habit

Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Dense clusters of small white flowers
Summer: Glossy dark green leaves
Autumn: Deep red fall color
Winter: Abundant, persistent black fruit

Caryopteris x clandonensis (bluebeard)
Spring: Cut to ground in spring
Summer: Fragrant, silvery gray-green foliage all season and showy bright blue flowers in late summer
Autumn: Flowers persist into fall, then develop tan seed capsules
Winter: Clusters of tan capsules through much of winter

Clethra alnifolia (summersweet clethra) (native to North America)
Spring: Medium green leaves
Summer: Spikes of white or pink fragrant flowers in midsummer
Autumn: Golden yellow fall color
Winter: Interesting, delicate dried seed capsules

Cornus amomum (silky dogwood) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Flattened, white flower clusters
Summer: Dark green leaves
Autumn: Reddish-purple to burgundy fall color
Winter: Attractive reddish stems and blue fruits

Cornus sericea (red-osier dogwood) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Flattened, white flower clusters
Summer: Medium-textured green leaves
Autumn: Reddish-purple fall color
Winter: Attractive stems, red, yellow or orange-red depending on cultivar

Fothergilla gardenii (dwarf fothergilla) (native to North America)
Spring: Fragrant, bottle-brush white flower clusters before foliage
Summer: Blue-green foliage
Autumn: Vibrant yellow-orange-red fall color
Winter: Silvery-gray bark and a rounded habit

Hamamelis mollis ‘Brevipetala’ (brevipetala witch-hazel)
Spring: Smooth, gray branches, new foliage has light green underside
Summer: Large, coarse-textured, green foliage
Autumn: Rich, yellow-orange fall color
Winter: Small ribbon-like, fragrant yellow flowers in February and March

Hamamelis virginiana (common witch-hazel) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: New leaves emerge light green, changing with season
Summer: Dark green, bold-textured, toothed leaves
Autumn: Showy, yellow, ribbon-like flowers in mid-October into December; yellow fall color
Winter: Attractive, gray stems and spreading branches, dry fruit capsules

Heptacodium miconioides (seven-son flower)
Spring: Soft green leaves maturing to dark green
Summer: Clusters of white flowers in late summerr
Autumn: Ornamental pink flower remnants make the shrub look like it is flowering again
Winter: Exfoliating, gray-brown bark exposing lighter inner bark

Hydrangea paniculata (panicled hydrangea)
Spring: Coarse, dark green leaves
Summer: White flowers changing to pink, mid to late summer
Autumn: Purple-tinged green autumn color; flower head pink, changing to brown
Winter: Persistent dried flower heads

Hydrangea quercifolia (oak-leaved hydrangea) (native to North America)
Spring: Oakleaf-shaped foliage emerges covered with silky hairs
Summer: White, cone-shaped flower heads, changing to pink, mid to late summer
Autumn: Wine-red to burgundy fall foliage
Winter: Persistent dried flower heads; reddish-brown peeling bark

Hypericum kalmianum (Kalm’s St. John’s wort) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Blue green foliage
Summer: Showy bright yellow flowers
Summer: Reddish fall color
Winter: Brown, exfoliating stems; reddish-brown dried fruit capsule

Ilex verticillata (common winterberry) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Remnant fruits attract birds
Summer: Glossy dark green foliage
Autumn: Yellow fall color with some orange tones
Winter: Abundant bright red berries on female plants; light gray stems

Itea virginica (Virginia sweetspira) (native to North America)
Spring: Medium green leaves
Summer: Showy spikes of fragrant, white flowers
Autumn: Brilliant fall color is a mix of yellow, orange, red and purple
Winter: Persistent seed capsules

Lindera benzoin (spicebush) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Vibrant yellow flowers in early spring
Summer: Attractive, fine-textured, soft green foliage
Autumn: Butter yellow fall color contrasts well with red fruits
Winter: A distinctive horizontal branching pattern in woodland situations

Rhus copallina (shining sumac) (native to the Midwest)
Spring: Glossy, trifoliate green foliage
Summer: Greenish-yellow pyramidal flower clusters
Autumn: Outstanding crimson-red to orange fall color
Winter: Dense clusters of small red fruits

Rosa rugosa (rugosa rose)
Spring: Fragrant flowers with showy yellow centers, white, pink or red, depending on cultivar
Summer: Persistent flowers; large red fruits (hips)
Autumn: Yellow to orange fall color; persistent fruit
Winter: Thick reddish-brown stems; large fruits turn dark red