Hardy climbers
Some garden areas are cool and dark all the time and certain plants thrive there. David Overend reports.
There are numerous shrubs that thrive in winter. Even when there is little light and the sun is absent, they have the attributes to hold on to their foliage and, in some cases, to flower. Yet there are some places in the garden that are cold and dark all year round and here it takes a special sort of plant to take root and grow. Many are climbers which actually seem to prefer to live in sunless, cooler sites.
Euonymus fortunei ‘Silver Queen’ is one such shrub. It may not be the greatest climber and it may not be the brightest or floriferous of plants, but it’s nothing if not consistent, even if its flowers are nothing to shout about.
This is a year-round, evergreen shrub producing green leaves flushed with white. When the temperature plummets, the foliage takes on a hint of pink.
It tolerates all but waterlogged soils and grows slowly. If left unpruned, a mature specimen could reach eight foot or so in height and five feed in spread, but it’s best to trim it back in mid-spring.
The silk tassel bush, Garrya elliptica, is also a surprisingly attractive shrub, particularly in winter when it is festooned with masses of hanging grey-green catkins.
It’s evergreen, pretty vigorous and hardy, although it isn’t over-fond of cold winds. Give it a fertile, well-drained and it should grow to eventually reach 12ft in height.
It should be lightly pruned and tidied after the flowers fade but apart from that one small chore, it’s a shrub that demands little of the gardener.
Of course, there is winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) with scented, pale-yellow winter blooms, and various firethorn (Pyracantha) renowned for their wonderful displays of colourful berries.
Firethorns can be grown as a hedge, groundcover or, in the case of the variety, ‘Golden Charmer’, against walls and fences; it looks equally good as a free-standing shrub.
Firethorn is easy to grow any reasonable soil and during summer produce sprays of bright flowers.
Another star of the winter garden is the quince, Chaenomeles – a ground-cover shrub, a low, flowering hedge or, perhaps best of all, trained against a wall where the deep crimson blooms can be seen at their best.
Prune trained plants after they have finished producing their memorable, vivid red blooms.