Finding Beauty in Winter Stems and Seedheads

Posted by

Ali Barwani

17 January 2025

On 17 January 2025

Finding Beauty in Winter Stems and Seedheads

Renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf famously remarked, perhaps only half joking, “A plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it is dead”. Nowhere is this observation more self-evident than when winter sunlight illuminates the complex geometry of ice-fringed dead stems and seedheads, briefly resurrecting a hidden hibernal palette of straw, butter, burnished gold, rust, nutmeg, auburn, plum, charcoal, and coal from the frozen garden landscape.

A Question of Aesthetics

Are you a neat freak, or do you relax and allow your garden to embrace the natural beauty of each season? It takes a discerning eye to appreciate the architectural qualities of desiccated plants in a stripped back winter garden. The door to this secret world opens to those that acknowledge the aesthetic value of botanical structures such as stems, spikes, seedheads, seedpods, and umbels. In the early morning, when a sparkling cloak of bitter hoar frost has been cast over the remains of plants that have retreated back to the crown, the bejewelled revenants glitter with a ghostly glamour that only remains until the sun melts them back to their sans-serif state. However, you can only experience this horticultural Narnia if you resist the urge to chop back your flowers during autumn. Additionally, by not hacking your plants back, the dead stems and foliage will protect the roots of sleeping plants from cold damage, and your soil from winter rain erosion. It is good news for wildlife too. Creating hibernating spaces for insects, and shelter and food for wildlife such as garden birds during the lean winter months.

Architectural Stems and Seedheads

Remnants of late summer and autumn, the skeletal remains of many herbaceous plants provide much needed interest in the garden at this time of the year. My list of must-haves includes the plate-like umbels of Hylotelephium (or Sedum) and Achillea ‘Gold Plate’, the soaring tiers of Phlomis russeliana, the vertical fountains of grasses such as ‘Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, the silvery seedpods of Lunaria annua, the black punctuation marks of Rudbeckia cones, and the buff powder puffs of asters. All these plants along with the addition of coloured stems of deciduous shrubs such as the fiery red shellac of dogwoods, add texture, architectural interest, and colour to the garden in winter. Plants such as these contribute much needed winter interest in addition to providing lush greenery and flowers during spring and summer, showcasing a different kind of beauty that not everyone initially appreciates. Winter gives us space to plan our gardens for the year ahead. Through the careful choice of ‘four season’ plants and their positioning, you can start creating year-round beauty and interest in the landscape.

Discovering Hidden Beauty

January is the month to open your eyes to the hidden beauty of dead plants in winter. Try looking beyond the withered stalks and brown seedheads, to appreciate strong architectural forms and complex surface patterns that add complexity and excitement to the garden in winter. Not everyone will find beauty in dead stems and dried seed heads, but for those that can, the winter garden becomes a treasure trove of rare jewels waiting to be examined. So, the next time you go out in the garden on a frosty winter morning, take a moment to look for the beauty of dead plants. Try looking past the surface to see the intricate details, the subtle colours, and the architectural grace of plants in their dormant glory. I promise you it will be worth making the effort.