There is a large part of the year when the trees are bare and the garden is dormant but even in these months not all gardens are equal.
You would think with a cover of snow all gardens would be equal. In summer some may be a mass of weeds whilst others are full of carefully tended flowers. But it is in the winter months when the annual bedding plants have died that a real garden shows its quality.
Snow may cover all the ground and make it appear level but a good garden will still look interesting because the gardener will have given thought to the architecture of the permanent planting. What I mean by this is that when the flowers have all died off and you are left with the bushes, shrubs and ever-greens then the shapes colors and textures of these will create interest.
Shapes are important for creating a sense of perspective and depth. Even without leaves can shrubs provide interesting shapes. Creative planting will emphasize these shapes as will careful pruning. Thus interest is created even if everything is uniformly white under snow!
But even when the winter is hardest and most plants are bare of leaves there can still be color in the garden. This can often come form the color of the bark of the stems of the bushes. Many mature bushes and shrubs provide special interest in the winter months because of the color of these elements. Acers particularly have a wide range of colors available. But when you buy a plant do not despair if the bark is not as colorful as you expected - some special do not have a good color to the bark until they are several years old. Take advice from where you buy your plants and buy a plant mature enough to have the characteristics that you want.
In these ways by using shapes and colors you can bring interest and variety to the season of the garden when little growth is taking place and it can otherwise look very neglected.
