Easy-care grave planting in winter: 22 ideas and plants

For a representative grave planting in winter, the survival artists from the plant kingdom are in great demand. Despite frosty temperatures, strong winds and wet and cold weather, they retain their decorative appearance without requiring time-consuming maintenance. A colorful dance of evergreen ground cover, decorative leaf plants and winter flowers invites you to creative combinations. Let yourself be inspired here with 25 ideas and plants for an easy-care grave design.

Grave planting in winter

Evergreen ground cover

Floral leitmotif for the grave planting

Evergreen ground cover is one of the pillars of creative and easy-care grave design for winter. This is the name given to all plants that do not shed their leaves and grow significantly more in width than in height. Within a short time they form a thick carpet that effectively suppresses annoying weeds. The most beautiful species and varieties also score points in winter with colorful fruit decorations or colorful foliage. Thanks to their modest demands, the following ground cover plants are not only hardy, but also completely easy to care for:

Ideas for graves in a sunny to partially shaded location

• Gold ivy (Hedera helix) shines with golden yellow, green edged leaves, 15-20 cm high and 50-100 cm wide
• Finger shrub 'Nuuk' (Potentilla tridentata), extra easy to care for and dense, 10-15 cm high and 20-40 cm wide
• Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) evergreen leaflets and red, edible berries, 10-20 cm high and 60-80 cm wide
• Dwarf thyme 'Minor' (Thymus praecox) forms dense cushions of leaves, 2-5 cm high and 15-20 cm wide
• Barbed nuts (Acaena inermis) with red-brown leaves and fruit decorations in winter, 5-10 cm high and 20-30 cm wide
• Roller wolf milk (Euphorbia myrsinites), sets itself in scene with blue-green leaves, 15-25 cm high and 40-50 cm wide

When choosing ground cover for dignified grave planting, ideally choose small-leaved varieties for small-scale resting places. Large-leaved ground cover, on the other hand, is more effective on large graves. Also give preference to weak-growing plant species over the growth rockets. A vigorous loquat (cotoneaster) grows up to 250 centimeters in width annually in a sunny location, so that it is oversized even for double graves.

Ground cover for resting places in the shade

• Red carpet berries (Gaultheria procumbens), red berry decorations, 10-20 cm high and 30-40 cm wide
• Low shade green, fat man (Pachysandra terminalis) 8-12 cm high and 30-40 cm wide
• Goldberry (Waldsteinia ternata) with threefold, shiny leaves, 10-15 cm high and 30-40 cm wide
• Small-leaved evergreen (Vinca minor), leathery-elliptical ornamental leaves, 10-15 cm high and 30-40 cm wide
• Creeping spindle (Euonymus fortunei), yellow-green variegated leaves, 10-30 cm high and 50-100 cm wide

These plants are all very easy to care for. They should only be used in the first few weeks after planting in autumn poured regularly so that they quickly take root in the ground. However, a fully developed root system does not require further watering under normal weather conditions. An exception applies to winter clear frost, when there is no water-giving snow cover in freezing frost and bright sunshine. The ground cover continues to evaporate moisture via the evergreen leaves, so occasional watering is advisable.

Ornamental foliage plants

Ornamental shapes amidst ground cover

The stylish grave planting is based on a balanced combination of ground cover and seasonal alternating planting. For the cold season, evergreen decorative leaf plants mix with the ground cover. These are perennials that set decorative accents with ornamental leaf shapes and are reliably winter hardy. Only at the end of winter do they shed their leaves. The following selection would like to inspire your imagination for a perfectly shaped and easy-care design of the resting place with decorative leaf plants:

• Purple bells 'Frosted Violett' (Heuchera), magnificent perennial with pink-purple winter leaves, 30-50 cm high
• Spotted dead nettle (Lamium maculatum), evergreen decorative leaf plant, does not need pruning, 15-20 cm high
• Blue fescue 'Bergsilber' (Festuca cinerea), decorative ornamental grass with hemispherical pads, 10-30 cm high
• Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia), classic decorative leaf plant for the grave, 30-50 cm high
• Silver bells 'Fire Alarm' (Heuchera micrantha) bright red leaf decoration in winter, 30-50 cm high
• Silver wire (Calocephalus brownii), pretty small shrub with silvery shoots, 25-30 cm high
• Houseleek (Sempervivum), the ideal grave planting for the sunny urn grave, 5-25 cm height

For a balanced grave planting in winter, an arrangement has proven that consists of two thirds of evergreen ground cover and one third of ornamental foliage plants. The alternating planting is then exchanged according to the season. Thus you can create a changeable appearance of the resting place with little effort. Houseleek species and varieties, however, occupy an exceptional position, as they set decorative accents all year round with their elegant rosettes. Because Sempervivum is translated as 'ever-living', which gives the plants a sacred symbolic character as grave plants.

Winter flowering plants

Comforting splashes of color in the midst of wintry melancholy

During the darker months of the year, mourners find it particularly difficult to visit a grave. In order to drive away sadness and melancholy, ideas are needed that bring color. Where colorful flowers rise above evergreen ground cover, the bereaved find the floral ambassadors of blooming life particularly comforting. Therefore, integrate the following species and varieties in the planting plan for the winter grave design:

• Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), white cup flowers from November to February, hardy to -40 ° C, 10-25 cm height
• Lenten rose 'Anna’s Red' (Helleborus orientalis) inspires with red flowers from January to April, 20-30 cm height
• Winter heather 'White Perfection' (Erica darleyensis) white flowers from November to April, 30-40 cm height
• Liverwort 'Winter Joy' (Hepatica transsilvanica) boasts blue flowers from the end of December, 15-20 cm tall

The Christmas rose unfolds its winter blossoms most beautifully in a partially shaded to shady location. Wherever the native perennial feels at home, it gains floral radiance from year to year up to an old age of up to 20 years. All other winter bloomers of this selection favor light to sunny locations.