Dem Bones

There is a book I used to read each year to the children about the human skeleton called Dem Bones by Bob Barner.  It was a fun way through song to learn the names of the bones in our bodies

Take a look at "Dem Bones" in your winter garden, sorry I don't have a song to go along with these bones.  If you look out and you do not see anything but borders, sticks and mulch you need some bones to your garden.  What I mean by bones is structures or plants that are visible after everything else dies down.

Bones can be achieved through trees, conifers, fences, gates, pathways, raised beds, arbors, pergolas, decorative garden sheds, obelisks, trellises, benches and year-round planters.  If you are on a wooded lot, you are not going to miss all of those other structures as much (this is not to say that a wooded lot cannot be improved by some of the above) but if not, your garden will look pretty desolate in the winter without some interest.

Bird feeders add to the structure of a garden

I doubt if anyone would want to sit here during the winter but it gives the feeling that you could take a rest.

Another place to take a rest at the end of a pathway before going through the gate becomes a focal point in the garden.

Raised curved planter with boxwood for winter interest

Raised bed veggie garden

Choose decorative trellises for a little winter art in the garden.

 

I guess if I had to pick my favorite structures to look at in the winter I would have to say my larger structures give me the most pleasure, the pergola, arbor and garden shed.  Maybe, this is because they are always visible even in deep snow.

Soon these bones will be covered with all of the beauty of color and growth in the garden.  I can't wait!