Photo credit: Laura Mathews/Punk Rock Gardens

Gardeners usually think of winter as a time of dormancy. But for us and for the plants.

We talk about "winter interest," but what we usually mean is the odd shrub with berries or the interesting tree bark.

Sara Barrett in the New York Times is writing this week about winter interest in an entirely different way. A winter garden where the plants of summer remain, to be the structure of winter.

She has conducted an interview with Piet Oudolf, who is the leading exemplar of the "New Perennials" landscape movement, which holds that plants should be chosen for shape and texture more than for color.

(There is a fabulous on-line photo gallery, too.)

A new way to think about winter....as something that gets started in the summer.