Grow FESTIVE FLOWERS

Summer laggards, robust early risers and fragrant shrubby blooms always raise the spirits

The flowers that grace our gardens for Christmas are a hardy and bohemian bunch. First there are the laggards that are reluctant to believe that the summer party is over, and hang around elegantly wasted in the borders. Scatters of asters and foolishly pretty rosebuds, weathering a touch of frost and winter wet, are like slightly dishevelled sybarites who are still chatting and drinking martinis at dawn.

Then there are the early-risers – impossibly perky snowdrops, aconites and irises; incongruous narcissi, that seem to chide us for feeling the cold; and sugary cyclamen that can bloom in an unbroken continuum, from early autumn to spring, as Cyclamen hederifolium gives way to C. coum.

Gracing pots or planted en masse as a foil for winter specimens, heathers are supremely adaptable and care not one jot whether or not we consider them fashionable. Hellebores, meanwhile, know they are loved, and while they refuse point-blank to be cut for the house, they bloom and self-sow with gay abandon.

But the flowers of the shrub border are perhaps the most joyous, the most surprising and the most underappreciated blooms of winter. They may be small, but they’re often numerous and gloriously fragrant. Hamamelis might be relatively slow-growing but it’s worth the wait, producing a haze of dainty flowers, in a palette that ranges from pale yellow (H. intermedia ‘Pallida’) to red or orange (‘Aurora’ and ‘Jelena’). Seasonal staples such as Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ and Sarcococca confusa are lauded for good reason but it’s worth experimenting with plants that are a little less common. These include Stachyurus praecox, with its pendent racemes of yellow flowers, and Edgworthia chrysantha, which sports attractive citrus-scented topknots.

So delightful is their scent, that some shrubs can be forgiven a slight scruffiness:

Chimonanthus praecox, Lonicera fragrantissima, Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ and mahonia won’t argue if you put them in a corner or shove them in a hedge – they’ll carry on doing their thing. And, when you need buds and branches to bring indoors to mix up the colourful cornus and willow stems, or give a little structure to a posy of snowdrops, they’ll be right there. ➤

The flowers of the shrub border are the most joyous blooms of winter

Burnished leaves of bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’ provide the perfect foil for the dainty blooms of Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ and galanthus ‘S. Arnott’

Heathers and ornamental cabbage create a frosty garden table decoration with cut conifers, ferns and rosehips Chimonanthus praecox