Take a moment on a clear January day with South Carolina blue skies to study the structure and design of your garden. January is a quiet month in the garden for both plants and the gardener. It’s a contemplation of what did well last year and what didn’t, dreams of new plants, and hope for the coming spring without damaging late frosts. If you’re lucky to have a rare snowfall, stroll through the garden to observe spaces where you need to add new shrubs or trees. Snow tends to make the garden’s composition more prominent and distinct.

The structural beauty of deciduous trees stands out on a clear January day.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2025 HGIC, Clemson Extension

Snow tends to make a garden’s structure more prominent.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2025 HGIC, Clemson Extension
In January, the bare branches of deciduous trees add an architectural beauty to the garden. Looking up, the arrangement of trunks and branches is characteristic of each genus and species of tree, Mother Nature’s artwork at its best. Sometimes, I will lie on the ground on my back to look up at the tree canopy, giving me a different perspective.

In January, the bare branches of deciduous trees add an architectural beauty to the garden.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2025 HGIC, Clemson Extension
The marcescent (when the leaves remain on a tree during the winter) papery tan leaves on the America beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) add texture to the landscape. I love listening to the rattling sound of leaves on a windy winter day.

The papery-tan marcescent leaves on beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) add texture to the winter landscape.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2025 HGIC, Clemson Extension
The beauty of living in South Carolina is that if designed properly, a garden can have something blooming in it year-round. Camellias (Camellia japonica) are the premier stars of my winter garden, along with paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha), winter hazel (Corylopsis spp.), Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia), and lenten rose (Helleborus sp.). I love winter daphne (Daphne odora) for its evergreen foliage and beautiful fragrance, but it can be challenging to grow. Frostproof containers are filled with violas, pansies, and snapdragons that provide seasonal color during warm spells, and early flowering bulbs begin emerging from the soil.
I have to be truthful. By the first of February, I’m completely over the garden being “quiet.” I’m ready for plants, bulbs, and trees to start waking up from their winter slumber and for the days to get longer when I can get outside to work in my garden.