Naomi Slade looks at winter form and function
I’m considering evergreens, twiggy structure and leaf and stem colour
It would be a tough call to reach peak winter garden in just the second season. And starting from a very low point and with a lot of hard landscaping and infrastructure still required, the truth is that it won’t be possible this year.
But that’s no reason that I can see for not making a jolly good fist of what can be done! I love a winter garden and this is the best time for taking a good look at what there is and making improvements.
My autumn routine is to give myself a carrot (as it were) by making sure things will look spectacular in spring, then tidy up for this season. And, finally, it’s time to ponder the interim.
I’m presently considering three key winter garden elements. Evergreens; the twiggy structure provided by deciduous plants and leaf and stem colour. The trick is to get the balance right, and this can be edited and worked on, year-on-year, creating structure and filling gaps. It’s also a great opportunity to plant out feature shrubs that have been in containers for a while, and refresh that element, too.
Improbably, given the dry summer, the trees are doing well and promise attractive vertical accents. The Sichuan pepper has really smart thorns – an unusual twiggy focus – and there are berries left on the sorbus which act as natural ornament. I’ve also noticed that the red-leaved acer has striated greenmahogany stems, a good focal point when surrounded by tubs of emerging bulbs.
Ever-greenery, like the box balls and a variegated pittosporum, is being beefed up with lush, small-leaved, dwarf azaleas such as ‘Amoena’ and ‘Stewartstonian’, which have slightly glossy, cinnamon stems (www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk). Adding a handful of lovely Helleborus ericsmithii, like ‘Winter Sunshine’ and ‘Winter Moonbeam’, with large, marbled leaves and elegant flowers, will create a nice contrast of shape and form (www.hawkesmillnurseries.co.uk, wholesale but supplied widely).
In moderation, yellow foliage adds energy and zing, so I’m planting out Escallonia laevis ‘Gold Brian’ and I need a couple of other acid-green plants such as Nandina domestica ‘Magical Lemon and Lime’ to pick up the colour. But I’ll be taking it easy on purple foliage as low light and north-facing aspect will do it no favours.
It’s early days, but with luck the layered interest, contrasting plants and detail will form a bridgehead for glories yet to come.