Green Fingers: Cheerful plants for winter
Hellebores are very beautiful flowers that begin to emerge from now on.
The lead up to Christmas starting in November and ending with a flurry of activity at the end of December has a little realised positive note, and that is that two winter months have passed by almost unnoticed.
During those two months the garden has largely been ignored and if it has been left in a tidy manner it will remain that way until around the end of March.
The garden goes through an almost dormant period - maybe better described as a deep slumber, as there is no obvious activity. The odd thing is there is always some growth somewhere in the garden. It is not universal to all plants but reserved to a few that put on a show of colour during the winter.
We are all familiar with the expression ‘White Knight’ and while we were distracted in the last two months, we are now heading into two dull months and are now in need of some cheer to carry us through.
This can be achieved by having our garden ‘White Knight’ in the form of some plants that will bring some colour and interest into our garden and home.
I have said before that good news needs repeating often, and that includes describing suitable garden plants for your garden. While there are abundant choices of plants from spring until the autumn, when it comes to the period outside those popular months, such as the winter, the choices are much more limited. I will mention a few of the available plants for winter interest here and describe some in more detail further on.
The flowering plants include: Arbutus, Camellia, Chaenomeles, Daphne, Erica (winter flowering heathers), Hamamelis, Hellebores, Lonicera fragrantissima, Mahonia, Prunus (Autumn cherry), Sarcococca, Skimmia and Viburnum.
There are other plants with winter interest in bark or stem, berries or fruit and leaves or foliage. Coloured stems or bark are associated with a number of trees and shrubs, such as Acer, Betula, Cornus and Salix.
Berries are produced during the summer and usually last until the birds discover them and then they can disappear within a day but some can last into early spring. After that it is a hit and miss affair and includes Aucuba, Euonymus, Leycesteria, Malus, Pernettya, Pyracantha, Rosa, Sarcococca, Skimmia, Symphoricarpus and Sorbus.
Most red-berried plants are the ones favoured by birds, whereas pink, yellow and white ones are usually left alone. Leaves and foliage can be supplied by a large range of evergreen shrubs, such as Abelia, Aucuba, Choisya, Convolvulus, Euonymus, Elaeagnus, Griselinia, Hebe, Phormium, Pieris, Pittosporum and a variety of grasses, including Acorus and Miscanthus.
We keep off the garden when conditions are wet or soggy but many trees and shrubs can be checked out as to their shape and condition and it is easy to see crossed or out of shape branches, which might need pruning. That includes our fruiting apples and pears.
If you have any comments or queries you are welcome to share them with me on 051-384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com and if of general interest I will include them in a future article.
