Coming soon to a bleak winter garden near you: Color! Texture! Berries! Gardeners are arming themselves with pretty trees and shrubs to dispel the dreary winter garden blahs. The unusual details of these plants make the desolate winter landscape interesting until spring bursts back on the scene.
Coming soon to a bleak winter garden near you: Color! Texture! Berries!
Gardeners are arming themselves with pretty trees and shrubs to dispel the dreary winter garden blahs. The unusual details of these plants make the desolate winter landscape interesting until spring bursts back on the scene.
Even if the plant is planted to brighten the winter garden, don't forget spring blooms, fall color or unique shapes when picking plants with winter interest. At www.inthegardenonline.com, there are five ways to get winter interest: color, texture or shape, fruit or berries, evergreen foliage, and wildlife attraction.
For color, Blondy euonymus (Euonymus fortunei 'Interbolwi') has yellow stems; and the Picta Kerria (Kerria japonica 'Picta') has stems that stay green throughout the winter.
Wildlife attractants - fruits and berries - grow abundantly on Berry Heavy winterberry (Ilex verticillata 'Spravy'), Blue Prince/Blue Princess holly (Ilex x meserveae) and on Cardinal Candy virbunum (Viburnum dilatatum 'Henneke').
Plant oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) for exfoliating bark that reveals cinnamon undertones. Japanese Spiraea 'Shibori' has a graceful, weeping habit.
Acer palmatum 'Sango Kuku' is a maple with coral-colored bark, and it's used as a specimen or in a container on the patio. For pretty scent in the winter garden, add Daphne (Daphne odora), 4 feet tall by 6 feet wide; winter honeysuckle (8 feet tall and wide); and wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) at 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Each perfumes the air of warm winter days.
The Southern Living Garden Book suggests several deciduous plants that add winter interest, including:
Harry Lauder's walking stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') and Corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa') - unusual branch shapes
Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia) - peeling barkComing soon to a bleak winter garden near you: Color! Texture! Berries!
Gardeners are arming themselves with pretty trees and shrubs to dispel the dreary winter garden blahs. The unusual details of these plants make the desolate winter landscape interesting until spring bursts back on the scene.
Even if the plant is planted to brighten the winter garden, don't forget spring blooms, fall color or unique shapes when picking plants with winter interest. At www.inthegardenonline.com, there are five ways to get winter interest: color, texture or shape, fruit or berries, evergreen foliage, and wildlife attraction.
For color, Blondy euonymus (Euonymus fortunei 'Interbolwi') has yellow stems; and the Picta Kerria (Kerria japonica 'Picta') has stems that stay green throughout the winter.
Wildlife attractants - fruits and berries - grow abundantly on Berry Heavy winterberry (Ilex verticillata 'Spravy'), Blue Prince/Blue Princess holly (Ilex x meserveae) and on Cardinal Candy virbunum (Viburnum dilatatum 'Henneke').
Plant oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) for exfoliating bark that reveals cinnamon undertones. Japanese Spiraea 'Shibori' has a graceful, weeping habit.
Acer palmatum 'Sango Kuku' is a maple with coral-colored bark, and it's used as a specimen or in a container on the patio. For pretty scent in the winter garden, add Daphne (Daphne odora), 4 feet tall by 6 feet wide; winter honeysuckle (8 feet tall and wide); and wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) at 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Each perfumes the air of warm winter days.
The Southern Living Garden Book suggests several deciduous plants that add winter interest, including:
Harry Lauder's walking stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') and Corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa') - unusual branch shapes
Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia) - peeling bark
Yellowing dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea') and red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) - bright winter color
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) and persimmon - bright fruits
Japanese Stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia) - peeling bark
In The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers, some "winter interest" trees and shrubs include:
Golden weeping willow (Salix x sepulcralis var. chrysocoma) has slender yellow shoots hanging to the ground like a curtain.
White-barked Himalayan birch (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii) has bright white bark.
Blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica f. glauca) with silvery blue foliage and erect, cylindrical cones.
Cotoneaster lacteus, an arching evergreen shrub suitable for hedging, has long-lasting red fruits.
Reach Sara Busse at sara.bu...@wvgazette.com or 348-1249.
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