Brown Is the New Green: The Eerie Beauty of Gardens in the Winter (PHOTOS)

LINCOLN SQUARE — It may have felt like spring over the weekend, but Mother Nature knows what season it is.

Aside from evergreens and some hardy hangers-on, the majority of summer and fall flowers have long since lost their bloom, fading from a rainbow of purples, pinks, reds and yellows to brown, browner and brownest.

A lack of color doesn't mean a lack of beauty, though. Gardens in the winter may not be conventionally pretty, but there's still plenty to catch the eye if you take a closer look.

Walking around the neighborhood the past few weeks, we've been stopped in our tracks by shimmering ornamental grasses, gorgeous bouquets of dried hydrangeas and clematis vines that have sprouted feathery tufts.

At Winnemac Park, where the prairie plantings are a favorite summer haunt, stalks and pods take center stage, exposing the framework and inner workings of plants typically obscured by showy blossoms.

So enjoy the seasonal changes in your garden and let's all be grateful it isn't buried in two feet of white stuff.

^{At Winnemac Park. [All photos by DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]}

^{Bouquets of dried hydrangea.}

^{At Winnemac Park.}

^{At Winnemac Park.}

^{At Winnemac Park.}

^{At Winnemac Park.}

^{Sweet autumn clematis vine.}

^{Clematis close-up.}

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