Create a winter wonderland in your garden
Too many people assume that the garden closes down at this time of year, but late autumn is when a whole different aspect begins to come to life. Shrubs and climbers that look insignificant in summer offer winter displays of flowers, fruit and bark and are frequently set off by a fragrance that is emphasised by the winter sun.
In milder months, try Camellia Sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ with its white, pink-tinted cup flowers. Enjoy the fragrance but check your soil type before planting. Wintersweet (Chimonanthus Praecox) offers scented yellow flowers on willowy stems and resembles the later flowering Forsythia that will follow it in the early spring. Witch Hazel (choose Hamamelis Mollis Pallida), shows a similar display of scented flowers on bare branches, and has further splendour in autumn when the leaves turn a bright yellow.
By December, winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera Fragrantissima) will fill your room with its scent if you plant it beneath a window and Jasmine Nudiflorum will offer pretty and heavily scented flowers through the winter planted against the wall of your house.
Winter-flowering trees must feature in the larger gardens. Plant Winter Cherry (Prunus Subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’). On a sunny day it can display delicate white flowers against the background of a blue sky, and Japanese Apricot, Prunus Mume ‘Beni-Shidori’, where you can enjoy the shocking pink and scented flowers that cluster along the bare branches; but remember it is very disappointing in the summer.
Many trees have spectacular bark and this is shown to tremendous advantage in the winter when there is much less in the way of floral pyrotechnics to distract the eye. The shrubby dogwoods are great performers; Cornus Alba with crimson stems, Cornus Sibirica with coral pink ones, and Cornus Aurea with bright green stems all offer splendid displays in the winter sun and are very vigorous. But for the best effect they need to be cut down every other year, require feeding and appreciate a damp soil.
And last but not least, a small tree, Crataegus Persimilis ‘Prunifolia’, carries a profusion of large dark red fruit that should, with luck, last until Christmas.
