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Using Evergreens in the Garden with Kate Gould
Kate Gould is an award winning garden designer with more than a decade’s hands-on experience transforming gardens of all sizes and a regular exhibitor at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show where she has been awarded three Gold medals. If you would like to know more about our services please contact Kate at kategouldgardens.com
Winter is traditionally a time when the garden looks bare. The deciduous herbaceous perennials have died back, the annuals have long been removed, the trees have lost their leaves and everything is looking a little drab if not outright boring. This is where evergreens really come into their own and if you have planted carefully they will form a backbone to the winter garden that ensures you have something of interest to look at all through the year. Sometimes when we think evergreen we think of Holly and Ivy or perhaps topiary forms but there are so many more evergreen plants to choose from than these. First let’s consider the perimeter of the garden. Height is very important when considering planting, you don’t want all your interest at ground level and the walls or fences can be very stark and empty if they are not greened up or carefully planted. Evergreen wall trained shrubs and climbers are a good place to start with fences as they hide a multitude of sins all year round. There are some suggestions below for some evergreen shrubs that
you could plant in front of your fences (depending of course on the aspect) and also some climbers to consider remembering in most cases you will have to provide supports for them in terms of tensioned wires so you can tie in the exuberant growth. Shrubs: Ceanothus ‘Autumnal Blue’; Elaeagnus x ebbingei; Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof ’. Climbers: Clematis armandii; Trachelospermum jasminoides; Akebia quinata There are a multitude of plants with fabulous winter stems and bark, all of which look beautiful backlit on a crisp sunny day: Cornus sanguinea Midwinter Fire - as its name suggests a rey copper set of stems; Prunus serrula - one of the less blousy Cherries when in bloom this tree makes up for it with shiny dark burgundy bark; Acer griseum one of the loveliest of trees with fantastic autumn coloured leaves but also cinnamon coloured peeling bark. Whatever your choice, with a little planning and the placement of some carefully chosen evergreen shrubs to accentuate your colour scheme, winter need never be boring in the garden.
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