garden
Contribution thanks to
Claudia McCullough
Creating a Winter Garden
Mulberry Gardening mulberrygardening.co.uk
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here is no reason our gardens should have to ‘close’ for the winter! With a bit of thought your garden can be full of life on even the dullest winters day. Colour, texture and form can be used to create interest. Here are four ideas to get you started.
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Winter flowering shrubs provide flashes of colour that brighten up your garden. Jasminum ‘nudiflorum’ is a deciduous shrub that carries almost luminous yellow flowers on arching green stems. It really does provide a splash of sunshine on a grey day. Another shrub well worth investing in is the fantastic Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’. It will thrive in a spot where it gets either full sun or partial shade and in late winter it produces clusters of delicate pink buds that open into white sweetly scented flowers. The fragrance is beautiful and gives a hint of the Spring to come. Grasses are great for creating softer lines in a border in summer and many species last through the winter months, moving with the wind, catching the low winter sun and providing a habitat for insects. Stipa Gigantea also known as ‘Golden Oats’ is a particular favourite of mine. An evergreen grass reaching up to 2 metres tall, its golden oat like flowers last through the winter before being cut back in the spring. Its height and rich colour add drama.
Claudia from Mulberry Gardening
Stem colour can offer contrast in a winter garden so take this into consideration when choosing deciduous shrubs. One of the most well-known is Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ also known as ‘Dogwood’. Easy to grow it commands attention with its vibrant red stems. There are many other varieties which when planted en mass create a fire like blaze of colour with stems ranging through greens, yellows, reds and oranges. For a touch of silver to mirror the winter chill Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ is another must have. Its delicate purple to blue flowers in summer fade to leave slender silver stems that last until spring. Don’t be too hasty when it comes to cutting back seed heads. As faded and brown as they look some flowering perennials such as Rudbeckia, Sedums and Helenium’s have seed heads that will hold for most of the winter. Covered with a sparkling frost they add a touch of wonder on a chilly morning, also providing much needed habitats and food for wildlife.
Pink flowers of Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
October is still a great time for planting shrubs and some perennials before the soil cools so why not get planning and planting to create a garden for the winters to come!
For more information on any of the plants referenced above go to www.rhs.org.uk Cornus create a blaze of colour
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