Green Fingers: No sense in non scents
The Camellia is a large group of non-fragrant evergreen plants with glossy leaves with some varieties starting to flower in November and continuing into the spring.
While it is the start of a new year, the gardening season in earnest does not begin for a number of months yet. This is good news for gardeners as it would be difficult to ‘jump start’ just after the holiday season but when conditions allow it does give us an opportunity to get out and about getting some preparation work completed in advance.
I have long advocated planting some winter flowering plants around the garden to provide some colour and cheer, especially from November until March.
There are some people whose favourite time is the winter and quite often the garden reflects their interest and therefore they have a beautiful range of colours for that period. There is no doubt that a winter garden during our long dull days is quite beautiful and can mesmerise anyone who visits one.
Life is about choices and consequences, which does not matter too much on small matters but where it is life changing or more permanent, then an appropriate period of thought and reflection will be in order.
I feel that the creation of a winter garden might be just too much for a smallish garden and even for a large garden it might be better just to have a section devoted to winter plants.
For a balance I would suggest that certain areas within the garden could have plants with a winter interest, and by all means visit a winter garden to get some ideas, which you can then use in your own situation.
There are some plants that come into their own during the winter months but have attractions during other periods also, so it is worth considering them initially.
There are three types that also have fragrant flowers and that is a bonus. These include Mahonia ‘Charity’ or ‘Winter Sun’, which has large jagged tropical-looking leaves, some of which colour well in autumn and are topped with cascading fragrant yellow flowers during the winter. There is a dwarf Mahonia called ‘Atropurpurea’ with glossy small leaves, which turn purple during the winter with clusters of yellow flowers in late winter into spring.
Daphne odora ‘Rebecca’ is a beautiful evergreen with gold margined leaves and very fragrant, reddish-purple flowers from late winter into spring.
The ‘Winter Box’ is another plant with small glossy leaves and white spidery fragrant flowers for a few months during the winter months.
The Camellia is a large group of non-fragrant evergreen plants with glossy leaves with some varieties starting to flower in November and continuing into the spring.
The last plant I will mention with a year-round attraction is Cornus ‘Elegentissima’, which has bright red stems during the winter months and silver-margined leaves during the rest of the year.
Outside all of the above selections there are many more plants that have good winter interest without the year round attraction. I will describe them at another time to show the range and scope of these versatile and tough plants.
It is always an exciting time for those waiting to grow some plants of their own. One that gives a great deal of satisfaction is sowing some seeds. I think it is a little early to sow many yet but you can certainly buy your seed supplies and get everything ready.
If you have any queries or comments you are welcome to share them with me on 051 384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com and if of general interest I will include it in a future article.
