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Stop and think of what a beautiful garden looks like to you. Is it packed with colorful flowers and loaded with leafy texture? Maybe it’s a natural woodland garden with a ground covered in ferns and sedges brightening up the shady forest floor. Or your mind may wander to an English cottage garden complete with boxwood hedges, roses, hydrangeas, and a lush green lawn complementing the structured space. What do most typical beautiful garden images all have in common? They are only imagined in summer! That doesn’t do much good for us here in the North Star state. We have a potential for six full months of snowy weather which can be depressing for us Minnesota gardeners just dreaming of lush green summer gardens.

But wait… what about a beautiful winter garden? Why not design gardens for year-round color, texture, structure, and interest? No, I’m not talking about using fake plastic plants. There are many Minnesota hardy trees, shrubs, and perennials that pack a punch throughout the winter season along with adding structure, food, and cover for wildlife, and even colorful cuttings for your winter flower arrangements.

There are hundreds of varieties of evergreens including pines, spruces, arborvitaes, hemlocks and firs that have foliage of golds, blues, silvers, and greens. You can incorporate a Weeping White Spruce for a green pillar reaching straight as an arrow to the sky or a stout Mops Falsecypress to add some golden glow to a semi-shaded space. There are even evergreens with glossy leafy foliage such as the Green Velvet Boxwood or the Cannadale Gold Euonymous which add structure to even the most informal space. Evergreens are the easy go to for a winter garden, but many times these look the same no matter what the season, leaving gardeners wanting more variety for their snowy landscapes.

That’s where some of my favorite plants come into play. There are a multitude of shrubs and perennials that not only flower and add color in the spring, summer, and fall but also pull double duty by bringing interesting and colorful berries, bark texture, and seed heads to the winter landscape. One of my favorites is the Autumn Magic chokeberry with white spring flowers, glossy green summer foliage, bright red and orange fall color, and clusters of persistent black berries throughout the winter. Rugosa Roses are a great choice packed full of summer flowers which then turn into showy bright orange and red rose hips adding much needed color to the frigid winter months. There are dogwoods with red and golden stems in the winter which can be pruned and used for winter potting arrangements. Even flowers like Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’ and Rudbeckia hirta can catch the snow on their upright stiff seed heads adding structure and interest in a snowy winter scene. Don’t forget about the Minnesota hardy ornamental grasses that extend fall color right into the snowy season like Miscanthus sinensis ‘Purpurescens’ and Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’.

With all this winter color, texture, and interest, it’s hard to not consider the cold snowy months when designing a beautiful Minnesota garden. Once you incorporate some of these seasonal beauties in your garden, those drab winter days tend to be just a little bit brighter.

Testimonials

"Just want to say thank you!"

“Just want to say thank you! The gentleman was just here and did an outstanding job! Our lot looks fab! Please tell him thank you as well. I appreciate you guys!”

"Nice job!"

“We wanted to let you know that your guys did a very nice job. They were courteous and professional...and they cleaned up their work area before leaving. We’d be happy to recommend Barrett Lawn Care to our friends and neighbors. Nice job!”

"We could not be any happier"

“Thank you to you and your team for designing and installing the beautiful landscaping at our house. We really appreciate your flexibility on the installation schedule. The crew who came to our house was fantastic! They left the yard clean each day and were very patient with my kids who were incredibly interested in the machines and flagstone design. The plants and stonework look so nice. We could not be any happier. Thanks again for everything. We really appreciate it!”

"Our yard hasn’t looked so great since I can remember"

“I just wanted to let you know how pleased we are with your services we had this year. Our yard hasn’t looked so great since I can remember. You did an awesome job! We will be hiring you again next year!”

"Thanks for all you do!"

“I would like to nominate your company to be added to our preferred vendor list. Not only is your customer service outstanding, but the workmanship is flawless. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with your company and feel as though our clients would greatly benefit from working with you. Thanks for all you do!”

"We could not be any happier"

“Thank you to you and your team for designing and installing the beautiful landscaping at our house. We really appreciate your flexibility on the installation schedule. The crew who came to our house was fantastic! They left the yard clean each day and were very patient with my kids who were incredibly interested in the machines and flagstone design. The plants and stonework look so nice. We could not be any happier. Thanks again for everything. We really appreciate it!”

"Above and Beyond"

"We (my husband and I) could not be happier with the work of the Barrett team. From the very beginning, they consistently went above and beyond. When we had them come out to quote us on our idea for landscaping, the designer had recommendations for us that were very innovative and greatly enhanced the vision we had in the first place for our backyard patio/bonfire pit. They provided a fair quote, answered our questions in a timely manner, and the team that worked on our project was diligent, hard-working, detail-oriented, as well as friendly whenever we would talk briefly. Most importantly, our patio/bonfire pit turned out absolutely perfect. We get compliments constantly from friends/family of what an amazing job was done on this project. I cannot say enough great things about this company. If you want high quality, time-efficient, fairly priced work done to your yard, this is where you want to be. We are already looking at other projects that Barrett can help us with in our yard and we look forward to working with them in the future."

About Us

Barrett Lawn Care is a full service outdoor lawn care company specializing in landscaping, garden management, irrigation, fertilization and weed control, commercial lawn care, and commercial snow and ice management. We serve the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs while providing the highest quality workmanship.