Banish Gloom From The Winter Garden (Hints and Tips in General)

Member Name: Shazzy

Product:	Hints and Tips in General
Date:	11/11/03 (348 review reads)
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Advantages: Obviously, more colour in he garden during winter

Disadvantages: The garden will probably still be muddy

Hasn’t it been a fabulous autumn? In my 43 years on this planet I can’t
remember ever experiencing such a wonderful display either in terms of colour
or duration. The fiery blaze of brilliant oranges and reds combined with bright
butter yellow and dark evergreens has appeared even more vibrant when lit by
the warm, soft rays of a low sun against a backdrop of azure blue sky. Absolutely
breathtaking! Oh, how I love autumn!

Enjoy it while you can though, because it can’t, and shouldn’t, last much longer.
Plants need a dormant period of rest and before you know it, the colour will be
gone and our gardens, along with the countryside, will be left looking rather
gloomy and colourless.

The garden doesn’t have to be dull and uninteresting in winter though.
Obviously, you can’t expect to enjoy the amount of colour and variety that
summer offers but by planting a few carefully chosen plants you can certainly
make the garden a brighter place to be.

Shrubs are the most important contributor to the winter garden as they not only
offer colour but provide structure for added interest.

Berrying shrubs are undoubtedly the most colourful and our own native Holly
(Ilex aquifolium) is probably the most common. Carrying glossy green, spiny
leaves that are attractive in themselves, the bright red berries bring colour into
dull corners of the garden as they’ll happy grow in shady areas. They’re not fussy
about the type of soil they’re planted in either so just about any garden can have
one, although you have to remember that left to their own devices, they’ll grow
to about 20 foot (6 metres) and to keep them low, regular pruning’s needed. It’s
also important to remember that only the female bears fruit so to ensure a
decent crop of berries you’ll need to plant both a male and female unless youR
17;re
certain that there’s already a male growing in a neighbouring garden. An easy
shrub that’s well worth planting if you have the room.

My personal favourite amongst the berrying shrubs is the gobsmackingly
stunning Pyracantha (Fire Thorn). These are best planted against a high wall or
fence where they’ll easily cover a 10’ x 10’ space within a few years, but are also
useful planted to scramble through an otherwise dull hedge. These evergreens
are heavy croppers of fat, bright red, orange or yellow berries, depending on the
variety, that are held in long clusters. Birds love them and will do their best to
strip your plant but does that matter? Birds bring extra colour and interest to the
garden anyway. Being a thorny climber, a dense Pyracantha against a garden
wall will also serve to keep out unwelcome guests and as long as you give them
some sunshine (they won’t produce such a good crop in shade, although they will
grow) and reasonably well drained soil (no heavy clay, thanks), they’ll happily
grow away for many tens of years.

The Cotoneaster group also offers a berrying plant for just about every situation
from ground covering shrubs no more than a foot high to whopping bushes at 10
feet and even a climber. Not as spectacular as the Pyracantha, but as you won’t
need two plants to ensure a crop of berries, possibly a better alternative than
Holly.

Now that we’ve looked at the large berrying shrubs, I’d like to mention one of
smaller types that are useful closer to the house or in tubs on the patio.
Pernettya is it’s name. This is another evergreen that carries juicy, fat berries in
a choice of deep pink, pale pink or white from early autumn through to about
January, depending on the weather. Neat and compact, they won’t grow to more
than about 12 inches (30 cm) although like ho
lly, they need a male close by to
guarantee berries. I do believe there’s a hermaphrodite form available although
I’ve neither tried or seen it so couldn’t really comment. Anyway, you’ll find the
female forms going reasonably cheap at garden centres during autumn (I paid
£2.99 for each of mine) so you can easily use them in a pot the first winter and
then plant them out, sit back and see what happens next year. Either they berry
or they don’t. Whatever happens, they’ll have been worth the display during the
first year.

If you have young children, it’s important to not plant berrying shrubs close to
where they generally play to keep the temptation of eating them to a minimum.
I’m not sure that it’s necessary to avoid them altogether though as it’s very rare
that children come to any serious harm through plants growing in the garden
(and there are plenty of poisonous ones about). I’d certainly tell them not to eat
them but of course, if you want to be absolutely certain, don’t plant them as
most will make them vomit at the very least. Yews, especially, are very
poisonous.

One of the best non-berrying shrubs for winter colour is the Siberian Dogwood
(Cornus alba ‘Sibiriea Varieata’). It’s important to buy the variegated type unless
you want a plant that leaves very little to be desired during summer. At least
that way you’ll have some year round interest although it’s definitely during
winter that this plant really becomes valuable. The naked stems are covered in
stunning, bright red bark that really brighten up the garden. They’ll grow happily
in just about any soil, harsh winters won’t hurt them (we had them in Norway
and they were always happy) but they do prefer a spot in full sun to bring out
the best colour. These shrubs can reach about 10 feet (3
metres) but by pruning
them right back to almost ground level each spring, you’ll not only keep them at
a more manageable height (about 4 feet) but will enjoy the freshest, brightest
red stems.

Evergreens and conifers are also useful in the winter garden. Of the evergreens,
Box (Buxus sempervirens) is one of my favourites for it’s compact growth, not to
mention the fact that you can let your artistic streak go to town on creating
topiary. Spotted Laurel (Aucuba japonica) is another good one that’s very easy to
grow. Plant it anywhere from sun to shade, dry soil to heavy clay and watch it
thrive. Its leaves are dark green with spots and streaks of butter yellow so great
for brightening up a dull corner. Ivy looks lovely covering an old wall or growing
through a tree and although it can easily get out of hand, if you’re willing to
spend a few hours cutting it back each spring, it shouldn’t be a problem (except
in The Operator’s case, where it grew in through the airbrick and poked out
through the skirting board - very attractive, I’m sure!). Conifers, although out of
vogue at the moment, come in all shapes and shades of green from tall columns
of blue grey to squat bushes of lime green that appear almost luminous on a
dull, winter day.

Shrubs aren’t all you can use though. There are a good few flowering plants that
can really bring colour into the garden as this time of the year. Winter flowering
Pansies and Violas are probably the best known.

Pansies are the bigger of the two and come in all sorts of colour combinations,
usually with a darker central area and brighter towards the edges, sometimes
frilled. They’re available in just about any colour you can imagine and have 5
petals with happy little faces and whisker type markings. Being bigger than
Violas, they’re more prone to drooping during
wet or very frosty weather and for
this reason I prefer their smaller cousins. Not only do Violas withstand bad
weather better, they’re generally more floriferous, and many have the added
bonus of scent! We have some pretty orange ones in a basket on the patio table
that smell of honey and a tub of lilac ones that remind me of parma violets
(anybody remember those sweets?). Planted en masse in large pots or any other
container available (just remember that they MUST have drain holes), these will
really brighten up any sunny or semi shaded spot. They also look lovely planted
between shrubs and in mixed planted pots with dwarf conifers and tiny
evergreens.

Polyanthus, of which the humble Primrose is the best known variety, are also
charming little plants for the winter patio. They’re naturally spring flowering but
clever nurserymen have learned to force them to flower in autumn where they’ll
continue well into winter. Their broad leaves form a neat rosette out of which
grow a clump of flowers that are available in a vast array of colours from pale
yellow through bright red, shocking pink, purple and deep blue, all with a yellow
eye to the centre. The scent is beautiful too. Just make sure you buy them in
flower otherwise the chances are they won’t give you any colour until spring.
Again, use in pots either alone or in mixed plantings or plant them between
shrubs in sunny spots.

Ornamental cabbage is one of those ‘love it or hate it’ plants. I think they’re
lovely, simply because they’re unusual and give me that much desired winter
colour. They can be bought in garden centres in autumn, looking pretty much
like an ordinary cabbage except for the heart which will be either white, cream
or pink. Various types are available, some bigger than others, but all are easy to
propagate at home from seed during summer. One o
f the best features of this
plant is that the colder it gets, the brighter the colour becomes. It isn’t really
until after the first frost that you get the true colour coming through. Obviously,
those that you buy have been treated to a false frost and therefore ready
coloured but it’s far more fun watching your home sown plants change colour.
Happy in pots or in beds, happiest in full sun.

Evergreen grasses are also useful, both in mixed planted pots or as specimens in
the border or around the patio edge. The blue grey Festuca Glauca is a lovely
grass that makes low mounds (approx. 15” x 10”), as is the larger Bronze Sedge.

I could go on, but I think I’ve covered the most important plants for winter
colour now.

If you think your garden could benefit from some extra colour and structure
during winter, pop down to your local centre and see what you can find because
luckily, winter is the best time for planting shrubs. It gives them time to rest and
get used to their new home before having to find the energy to put on lots of
new growth and develop the flowers that will eventually make the seeds
necessary to ensure the survival of the species.

And remember, berries in the garden are synonymous with birds in the garden
(unless you have lots of cats prowling) and birds are both colourful and lively.
Nice dense bushes of berrying shrubs also offer them places to nest in spring so
your shrubs can be useful for more than just admiring from the kitchen window
or patio.

Happy gardening! Don’t stop just because winter’s almost here.


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