Decorate with EVERGREENS Glossy and luxurious, these reliable plants have year-round appeal but come into their own at Christmas
Holly and ivy have been festive essentials for hundreds of years and there’s still much to commend them, not least as a source of food and shelter for wildlife. But the thoughtful gardener can also draw inspiration from a wide palette of other plants, not only as a structural backbone for the garden, but also that can be harvested by the armful and brought inside to decorate the house.
Choisya ternata is an economic and practically bomb-proof option that adds a golden yellow or pale-green glow to the garden, while pittosporums come in colours and variegations for every taste, from pale- and dark green, to leaves that are glaucous, variegated and even a lovely rich purple.
Grasses, too, take on a new lease of life. In pots or borders punky hummocks of Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ and Festuca glauca are bold and handsome and, although they don’t actually remain green, many other grasses such as Stipa gigantea, deschampsia and Miscanthus sinensis retain their structural silvery seedheads well into January.
In a mild climate, silver and white can be an important part of the appeal of ‘evergreens’. Many variegated ivies have a naturally frost-rimed or snow-sprinkled effect, as do some of the greyer glaucous firs. Euonymus cultivars are also useful; some have gold highlights, while others including E. japonicus ‘Kathy’ and ‘White Spire’ are prettily touched with snowy silver.
Nordmann firs and their ilk often end their days cut and brought into the house, but the very best sort of Christmas tree lives out its whole life in the garden. Here it can mind its own business for most of the year until it takes centre stage in the depths of winter.
Versatile abies, cupressus and cedar cultivars come in all shapes and sizes, and while many pines are richly green, there are glaucous blues such as compact Picea sitchensis ‘Tenas’ and Cupressus arizonica glabra ‘Blue Ice’ that seem touched by frost even when it’s quite warm outside. Other conifers, meanwhile, go for a surprise colour change as temperatures drop – Cryptomeria japonica assumes a muted, orangeybronze hue while the foliage of
Pinus mugo cultivars ‘Ophir’ and ‘Winter Gold’ flares a rich and brilliant yellow. ✿
Many variegated ivies have a frost-rimed or snow-sprinkled effect