Pinging you all EARLY, as I'm on the fly in the morning.
I am in Zone 5a, and my FAVORITE winter-combo (and one I’ve sold to many customers through the years) is:
An Evergreen of your choice
A ‘clump of three’ Japanese Whitespire Birch
A Red Twig Dogwood
After Beau took down the ‘deader than dead’ ancient Cottonwood tree in the front corner of the house yard, I added this planting combo. I also did the same in one of our tree lines coming up the driveway where we had some Evergreens die in the drought of 2012, which left a gap.
Totally GORGEOUS, and the local birds love it for daytime winter shelter. It doesn’t look like much in the Summer months, but in Winter, against the snow? Gorgeous, Darling! Gorgeous!
Pinging you all EARLY, as I'm on the fly in the morning.
I bought a bunch of red twig dogwood plants from NH at their annual plant sale. Got a pack of 10 for $15, IIRC.
I planted them along the embankment that runs along our driveway. We need something for erosion control besides trees that, if a storm takes them out, will take out our power with them. These grow into nice bushes, they are native plants, and so far has established themselves very well.
I have some winterberry holly, too, for around our pond where the ground is wetter. I need to check and see how they are doing.
Post a picture please next time you have snow.