
Oscar Wilde in The Selfish Giant wrote the following words:
"He did not hate the winter now, for he knew that it was merely the spring asleep, and that the flowers were resting."
And Anne Bradstreet, who died in 1672, wrote:
"If we had no winter the spring would not be so pleasant."
Kathleen Norris sounded a little more impatient about winter when she wrote:
"There seems to be so much more winter this year than we need."
Nancy Hutchens in her book A Garden's Grace described plants that look good in winter. She said,
"The wheat-colored blooms of Hydrangea paniculata âGrandiflora' add charm to my backyard-one at its entrance and another next to a red-twigged dogwood."
She continued:
"â¦the tall black stalks and round heads of Rudbeckia, Echinacea, and bee balm are attractive and fill the bare ground with texture and interesting shapes⦠The sedum âAutumn Joy' turned out to be another winter jewel. Its faded bronze was spectacular next to the pearly silver of a large Artemisia. As I began to think about how a particular flower or shrub would look in winter, I discovered many choices that enhanced the poor evergreens, who had been doing all the work alone."
Reference: A Garden's Grace: down-to-earth lessons and simple rewards by Nancy Hutchens, (Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Shuster Inc., p. 172-3, 1997).