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In choosing plants for your garden, you may want to emphasize plants that can provide more than one season of interest. For example, red-osier dogwood has flowers in the spring, nice textured leaves and interesting fruit in the summer, and brilliant fall foliage and fiery red stems throughout the winter.

Evergreens provide year-round colour and should be included in any wildlife-friendly garden. However, many plants can provide winter interest if given the chance. Purple coneflowers look very attractive with their seed heads covered in frost. Try leaving your perennials for the winter to see if their stems and seed heads add interest to your garden through the winter months. This gives the added benefit of providing seeds for birds during the harshest months.

For bloom colour, be sure to provide blooms in every season. Create clusters of plants that bloom together and weave them throughout the garden. This will give a better overall feel than spreading them too thin or putting all your season’s bloomers in one bed that will look barren for the rest of the year.