Gardeners' Corner
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A summer that seemed to go on for most of the autumn was enjoyed by all, but particularly the keen gardeners among us! Winter is now well and truly here, but don't put away those gardening boots just yet. It is the perfect time to walk around and see what you can do to bring more winter interest into your garden. Some trees, such as Prunus subbirtella 'Autumalis' flower throughout the winter, but the colours and textures of the bark and branches of deciduous trees can also give visual interest. The bark of a silver birch glistens on even the dullest day, particularly when nearby shrubs and plants are covered with a layer of frost. Noting the colours of bark, branches, and twigs now can also help you to plan what bulbs to plant beneath them next year. |
| Birch trees, the zebras of the tree world |
| For example, try a black and white planting beneath a silver birch: the black grass Omphiopogon nigrescens will give interest throughout the year, but can be interspersed with snowdrops, and clumps of white narcissi and tall white tulips to take you though winter into spring. For a splash of colour, try adding some vibrant red tulips. |
| Evergreens tend to take something of a back seat when the garden is bursting with colour during the summer months, but they can really come into their own in the winter. Their bold shapes give structure to the garden, and some flower in winter, while others provide berries. Many of us enjoy the glowing red, orange, and yellow berries of the pyracantha, and the freely produced heads of small star-shaped white flowers of Viburnum tinus. To make a real impact, an unusual contrast to the dense habit of the viburnum is Rubus biflorus. This deciduous upright shrub has milky white young shoots in winter, and produces white flowers in spring followed by edible yellow fruits in summer as a bonus. Underplanting with Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White', with its grey-green and white mottled leaves interspersed with clumps of early flowering white narcissus or snowdrops, would continue the theme. |
| Contrasting well with the colourful red or yellow stems of the deciduous dogwoods are many other useful evergreens that are readily available and easy to grow. These include berry producing and/or flowering forms of Skimmia japonica, the variegated Pittosporum with silvery white edged leaves, the small-leaved Lonicera nitada 'Baggesen's Gold', and the green and gold Elaeagnus pungens 'Maculata'. This latter plant looks good when underplanted with daffodils, as does the mahonia, the yellow flowers of some varieties also being fragrant. There are other shrubs that when planted near a path or close to your door would allow you to enjoy both flowers and fragrance on a winter's day. These include Sarococca confusa (Christmas or sweet box) whose tiny, inconspicuous flowers nevertheless give off the most incredible perfume, Chimonanthus praecox (wintersweet), which produces sweetly scented pale yellow flowers with a purple centre on leafless branches, and Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn', with its fragrant pink-tinged white flowers |
Last but not least are the perennials that are such good value at this time of the year. Hellebores are a firm favourite, the white flowers of Helleborus niger (Christmas rose) appearing early in the season, followed soon after by the pink or purple varieties of H.orientalis. Others, such as H. corsicus and H. foetidus, not only have interesting evergreen foliage all year round, but also produce huge clusters of wonderful pale green flowers in winter and early spring. Try them in front of either the C. praecox or Mahonia japonica. Add a clump of winter-flowering Iris unguicularis, whose sword-like foliage contrasts well and produces mauve flowers from late autumn onwards, and complete the scheme with miniature Iris reticulata and snowdrops in the foreground. |
And once you have the planting right, you can position some subtle outdoor lighting and continue to enjoy your garden on those cold, dark nights from the comfort of your armchair! Jackie McClaren / Valerie Ward |