Most gardeners who live in cold climates just pack up for winter and head inside. Watching the landscape through a window, they see stretches of snow covered ground, dead stalks and a few hardy evergreens. Not a bad view, actually!

But for the truly adventurous there are many choices of shrub or tree that can help brighten the landscaping of even those gloomy winter scenes, inside and out.

Holly has been popular around Christmas for centuries. With year-round foliage and colorful berries, it will bring life and color into your life.

The bush tolerates cutting even in the dead of winter, so you can prune a few to hang on the door, or make a nice decoration for the dinner table.

China Holly is a delightful variation. Rounded and about 8 foot high, they're drought tolerant and just beautiful.

Inkberry Holly is a nice choice, too. It's shorter and the black berries make for an interesting difference from the usual type.

Winterberry Holly is a good choice if you want to attract those few bird species that hang around during the cold months.

Birch trees add an artistic touch to the landscape and can be used as lining around your property or as a centerpiece in the lawn. Since they're deciduous they lose their leaves in the late Fall, but the subtle coloring of the wood and the shape of the branches make them natural sculpture.

Paper Birch has bark that makes an interesting appearance, as it sheds and folds. A variety known as Yellow Birch is a colorful type. Young's Weeping Birch grows only to six to twelve feet, making it a wonderful shorter version. Most birch trees can grow 60 feet or more over a period of decades.

Yew trees have long been associated with the Christmas season in Great Britain, but can be grown in many countries. Their evergreen needles and bright red berries provide a nice bit of color during winter. Be sure not to eat the berries, which are poisonous.

Several Japanese species have evolved in the windswept areas and form lovely additions to the home. The Japanese Barberry is a roundish shrub that does well in certain parts of the country. They're hardy up to Zone 3. A few feet high and wide, they produce lovely Fall colors and the berries will last until very late into the season.

The American version will thrive in Zones 2-8 and its fruit is a favorite of birds. They're also deer resistant, so if you live in an area they frequent you get two benefits in one bush. During the other seasons you might enjoy the fragrant foliage.

Complete the picture with a tall grass that can add to the scene in winter. Plume grass is an ornamental and will last all year round in Zones 4-9. With a thin shaft and puffy top, you'll enjoy seeing them against the background.

Don't let winter stop you from enjoying your green thumb. Pick some winter plants today.

My husband loves outdoor fish ponds. I love the idea of a Japanese garden. When we decided to build our own pond in our backyard, we considered several options.

I suggested a Japanese garden and my husband was less than excited about it. I drew up a sketch of the oriental landscape with a pond full of Koi fish. He reluctantly agreed to the design and we got to work.

The first task was to dig a ditch for the pond for our Japanese garden. After we weeded the area and made a good sized ditch, we visited our local home and garden store and purchased a plastic pond mold. These are black in color and aid in protecting the fish from being subjected to the soil and cement materials that are often used.

We took our pond mold home and began to dig out the shape of the mold in our ditch. We completed the dig and inserted the pond mold. We were well on our way to having a fishpond with a Japanese garden theme. I began to gather the desired plants to give an oriental style.

I was able to find several types of reeds and short filler plants for the Japanese garden. I chose stones that were a brownish-orange in color for the landscaping project. We placed the flat rock around the rim of the pond and took care that we had them hang over the pond mold.

I decided to limit myself to one more plant and two statues. I chose a small Dojo house and an oriental statue that symbolizes tranquility. I found these online. I made sure to leave a lot of space between the various decorative elements.

After looking over our efforts I felt there was something missing. I needed a bonsai tree but I knew that one would never thrive in my climate. I found a fake bonsai tree that was remarkably realistic.

The bonsai tree was the perfect addition to the scene and it really tied everything together. We filled the pond with water and let it set up for a week. We finally added a few small Koi fish. The fish pond made an absolutely beautiful Japanese garden.

There are many benefits that come with owning your own home. One of them is backyard landscaping. This is a way to create a unique area that you and your family can enjoy. Backyard landscaping often involves some initial intense labor, but the effects are worth the effort.

It is important when starting landscaping projects to plan how much time you want to invest to maintain the look of the project. When we first moved to our home we loved the backyard. The previous owner had planted a huge variety of perennials in the backyard as well as along the side of the house.

The flowers added color for each season. However keeping the weeds under control was very time consuming. After two seasons we decided that the backyard landscaping needed to be less time consuming.

The previous owner had been a teacher, with the entire summer off. This allowed her ample time to work in the flower gardens. We both work full time so the weeds were always getting away from us. The backyard landscaping no longer looked as beautiful as when we moved in.

There were several people that we knew that wanted the perennials. We dug them out and shared them with others for their backyard landscaping.

We then laid down heavy black plastic to prevent weeds from growing up in the area. We covered the area with washed river rocks that we had delivered from the local nursery. We placed landscaping tiles around the rocks to hold them in place.

To finish our backyard landscaping project we placed large pots of colorful annuals and a park bench to sit on. We find that we enjoy the time sitting on the park bench enjoying our backyard landscaping.

One of the neighbors commented on how neat the backyard appears now. And we find that we spend more time in the space because of the bench. I told my husband that I prefer sitting on the bench watching the birds on the feeders rather than pulling weeds.

Backyard landscaping should enhance the enjoyment of owning your own home. It should not be so time consuming that it ads stress on your precious time. By keeping the backyard landscaping simple you can have a unique area and also have the time to enjoy it.

We will be able to add features to our backyard as time goes by. We started with a basic design that we can expand as time, energy and finances allows. We do not like clutter. By keeping things simple the area is easy to mow around, so this also saves time that is spent to maintain the look of the area.