It’s blooming chilly out
THERE’S STILL SO MUCH TO MARVEL AT WITH PRETTY PLANTS POWERING THROUGH
DON’T be tempted to give up on the garden at this time of year – you’d be overlooking the many beauties that keep going through the winter and provide much pleasure.
The view from my kitchen window is a small courtyard garden. During summer there are different flowering plants – mainly Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’, deep red astilbes, roses and purple thalictrum. Along with these I usually have pots with dahlias, cosmos, marguerites and nemesia for extra pops of colour.
Now, however, the picture is more subdued but there is still appeal. The hydrangea flowers have gone brown but their globular shapes are attractive.
Beside them, the Japanese fountain grass, Hakonechloa macra, is displaying autumnal tints of yellow and gold and retains its pleasing shape.
I will eventually cut it down in spring to make way for the fresh green foliage. The golden stems of yellow groove bamboo Phyllostachys Aureocaulis provide strong vertical accents.
The stems are much more visible than in summer as the bamboo has shed quite a few of its leaves. Behind them the ivy covering the fence has burst into flower, the upright yellowish green umbels providing important food for the holly blue butterfly and swallow tailed moth when little else is available.
Bold evergreen leaves of fatsia complement the architectural blue-green domes of Euphorbia wulfenii. And there’s some lovely winter fragrance coming from a scented white viburnum.
In the neighbour’s garden a beech tree retains its russet golden leaves. The picture is serene but it may be time to add some Christmas sparkle with some seasonal pots. Cyclamen are the go-to bedding plant at this time of year with a winning combination of attraclawn and out of the pond and onto the compost heap.
■ Harvest leeks, parsnips, winter cabbages and sprouts and enjoy home-grown produce on Christmas Day.
■ Prepare a trench for next year’s beans and fill with garden compost.
■ Go foraging in your garden for attractive tive green marbled foliage and vivid scarlet, cerise pink and white flowers. A tray or two of these will find places in pots, at the base of trees and are great for window boxes too. Add some trailing ivy to complete the picture.
Good focal points for pots are plants with berries. Topiary hollies, plain or variegated, look very festive at this time of year as do skimmia and gaultherias.
Silvery leaved Convolvulus cneorum would also be a good foil for winter bedding plants such as Bellis perennis, winter-flowering pansies, violas, primulas and heathers. It’s great to see hellebores begin to flower.
‘Christmas Carol’ is the beautiful white one you will see in garden centres now but that’s just the start of the hellebore season, which can keep going strong until May.
Add some Christmas cheer with a string of outdoor sparkling lights – battery operated are the simplest to use and many come with timers as well.
Wrap around the stems of trees or garland your pots with multi-coloured lights and let your garden lift your spirits as well as your neighbour’s. greenery, berries and branches that can be kept fresh in a bucket of water or sprayed silver, gold or white for Christmas decorations, wreaths and gifts. ■ Leave faded flowers on hydrangeas until spring as they will provide some protection from frost to the buds lower down the stems.