Good companions

Most Mahonia cultivars make good middle to back-of-border plants or specimen plants. Shorter forms, including those described as groundcover, can be brought forward towards the edge of the border or used to blend woodland plantings with more formal design elements. Bear in mind their spiny nature when placing these plants to avoid hurting children or pets. Their spikes of flowers add welcome scent and colour at time of year when such virtues are valued. Place them in sheltered positions so the scent can be appreciated, in the corner of a walled garden where the fragrance collects or close to a door. Their evergreen foliage and structural qualities make them ideal for contrasting with other plants such as coloured-stemmed Cornus, particularly orangestemmed cultivars, such as Cornus sanguinea ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ or ‘Midwinter Fire’ and white-stemmed Rubus thibetanus and R. cockburnianus underplanted with snowdrops, winter aconites or other winter- and spring-flowering bulbs or hellebores.