Evergreen hollies produce berries and are beautiful during winter snow showers. Photo courtesy of Planting Fields Arboretum
People often equate the summer months with gardening, to the exclusion of other seasons. For them, the first day of school signals the last day of gardening and the autumn is spent putting the garden “to bed” for a long winter’s nap. The truth is that gardeners, not plants, need the rest from all of the digging, planting, and weeding in the hot summer weather. We retreat inside to spend our winter nights curled up in front of the fireplace, reading seed catalogs and fantasizing about how our garden will look next year. While we dream of new and improved plant introductions, many trees and shrubs are blooming while others show off their bright berries while even more exhibit their colorful bark.
“People think all plants go dormant but the landscape stays alive,” says Vincent Simeone, Director of Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay, New York. Vincent has also written a series of books, including “Wonders of the Winter Landscape.” “Winter is a whole new dimension in the landscape,” Vincent says. “It provides the opportunity to enjoy the minute details of plants.”
To learn what blooms in winter, visit your local public gardens from December through March and take notes or photographs. When winter is over, buy a variety of “levels” from tall trees, to medium shrubs, to low growing perennials. Select different plants for different attributes: winter flowers, bright berries, or exfoliating bark. Imagine how they would look viewed from the window, especially blanketed with snow.
Hellebore Winter Jewel 'Peppermint Ice.' Photo courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries.
Despite the cold temperatures, many deciduous shrubs bloom in the winter and a surprising number have yellow flowers. Winterhazel, Corylopsis pauciflora, is a 5-foot dense shrub, about 6 to 8 feet wide, with bell-shaped flowers that seem to be inserted within each other to create a 3-inch chain. Wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox, is an upright shrub, about 10 to 15 feet high, with 1-inch, bell-shaped flowers. Winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, is a 4-foot, low growing shrub. Its branches cascade down like a waterfall, making it ideal for rock walls and slopes. Trumpet shaped flowers, about two inches long, appear along the branches. Oriental paperbush, Edgeworthia chrysantha, is a 6-foot vase shaped shrub, with 2-inch umbels of tiny yellow flowers that emerge from a white, woolly covering so the overall effect is pale yellow/creamy white. The umbels hang from the branches like upside down umbrellas. Cornelian cherry, Cornus mas, also has umbels, but they are completely yellow and are closely attached to the branch, creating puffs of tiny, star-like flowers. Related to the flowering dogwood, Cornelian cherry is a small tree, about 20 feet tall.
Witch hazels are very common winter bloomers—there are many cultivars of Hamamelis x intermedia that flower in shades of yellow, orange, burnt orange, and brick red. These shrubs grow about 10 to 15 feet high and spread just as wide at the top, producing a distinctive vase shape. Witch hazel flowers are unusual in that the petals are thin straps, about 2 to 3 inches long, clustered in a bunch on the branch. Its cousin, Chinese witch hazel, Hamamelis mollis, has only yellow flowers.
“My three favorite witch hazels are: ‘Jelena,’ which has orange copper flowers; ‘Diane,’ which has brick red flowers; and ‘Arnold Promise,’ which has yellow flowers,” says Vincent.
A wide range of color and shapes can be obtained from the Japanese flowering apricots, Prunus mume. There are a few good cultivars in this area and in Japan, where it is very popular, there are over 300 cultivars including weeping and contorted forms (look to mail order nurseries for unusual cultivars). “Japanese flowering apricot is a small tree, smaller than a dogwood, with very fragrant flowers,” says Phil Normandy, plant collections manager at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. “The flowers, similar to plum flowers, range from pure white to deep rose, with pink the most common.”
If you are interested in attracting wildlife, growing shrubs that produce colorful berries will provide birds with nourishment and you with a beautiful landscape. Depending on the plant, some berries are eaten quickly while others persist on the branches throughout the winter months. The most well known berry producing shrubs are the hollies, both evergreen and deciduous forms.
Hellebore Winter Jewel "Painted Doubles" Photo courtesy Terra Nova Nurseries.
For flowers on the ground floor, the most well known winter blooming perennial is the hellebore. There is a mind boggling number of cultivars in every conceivable color and shape. These disease and deer resistant perennials are evergreen mounds, usually a foot tall, that bloom as early as January. Recent introductions include the Winter Jewels series, which are double petals with extra large flowers in nine colors; the Brushstrokes series, which have single petals but still large flowers; and the Regal Ruffles series, which have double petals and frilly edges.
If you are interested in attracting wildlife, growing shrubs that produce colorful berries will provide birds with nourishment and you with a beautiful landscape. Depending on the plant, some berries are eaten quickly while others persist on the branches throughout the winter months. The most well known berry producing shrubs are the hollies (Ilex), both evergreen and deciduous forms.
“The two most common deciduous hollies in this area are ‘Sparkleberry’ and ‘Winter Red,’ ” says Phil. These shrubs produce red berries against bare stems, which also make striking Christmas arrangements.
Evergreen hollies produce berries, but birds usually decimate them by the time winter has settled in. “If we have a lot of robins they will eat the berries by Christmas,” says Phil. For shrubs that retain berries the longest, try red chokecherry, a multi-stemmed shrub (Aronia arbutifolia). Birds find the glossy red berries too astringent to eat, thus the fruit is left alone. Its cousin, black chokecherry, has dark purple/black berries, similar to blueberries (Aronia melanocarpa).
Deciduous trees with berries include hawthorn, Crataegus viridis, and crabapples, Malus spp. Hawthorn has long thorns but the cultivar ‘Winter King’ is known for fewer thorns, larger fruit, and longer fruit retention.
Because crabapples are susceptible to diseases, pick one of the new cultivars that have been bred for disease resistance and more beautiful, persistent fruit. “Of the crabapples, ‘Sugar Tyme’ and ‘Red Jewel’ tend to hold their fruit longer, even to February, because the birds do not like the fruit,” says Vincent.
Another technique for enhancing the landscape is to plant trees with exfoliating (peeling) or brightly colored bark. Of the peelers, there are the smooth peelers and the flaky peelers. Stewartia is a smooth peeler, the bark is smooth but patches have peeled off leaving irregular spots of silver, gray brown, sage, and cinnamon. “Stewartia pseudocamellia would be my number one for bark interest,” says Vincent.
Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia). Photo courtesy of Planting Field Arboretum.
Another technique for enhancing the landscape is to plant trees with exfoliating (peeling) or brightly colored bark. Of the peelers, there are the smooth peelers and the flaky peelers.
Another smooth peeler is crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia), a great tree for year round interest. “All crape myrtles have good peeling bark but the new cultivars with Indian tribal names from the U.S. National Arboretum have a tendency to have rust-colored bark with tan color,” says Phil. “Natchez has cinnamon colored bark.”
Paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is a flaky peeler; it is a large tree so unusually large sheets of shiny copper bark curl off the trunk. Birch, of course, is well known for its exfoliating bark. “River birch has a shaggy bark,” says Phil. “It is native to the eastern United States and is the most heat tolerant.” Betula nigra ‘Heritage’ is the most popular cultivar in this area; it exhibits brown, salmon, peach, and orange exfoliating bark.
Some bark will completely change color when the temperature drops. Coral bark maple, a type of Japanese maple, (Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’) transforms into a coral strawberry pink color in the winter and changes back to green by summer.
Twig dogwoods bare blood-red or bright yellow twigs about four feet high. Deciduous shrubs, twig dogwoods are related to the flowering dogwood but their flowers resemble Queen Anne’s lace. “It is a great plant to put in front of a dark background or in a place where the winter sun can shine on them to display the twig color,” says Phil. New cultivars with new colors are appearing on the market, so ask your local nursery for the latest colors.
Some people prefer a landscape of evergreens to minimize the barren appearance of winter. There are plenty of broadleaved evergreens in this area, including rhododendrons, hollies, boxwood, viburnums, gold dust plant (Aucuba japonica), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), dwarf sweetbox (Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis), and Japanese skimmia (Skimmia japonica).
Several broadleaved evergreens bloom or fruit in the winter. Mahonia is a 5-foot tall shrub with large, tough, coarse leaves, often spiny. Although it produces long, 6-inch spikes of small yellow flowers, they look better on the bush than cut for a vase. “Mahonia provides a bold texture in the landscape,” says Vincent. “You can’t beat them as far as durability—they are tough.” There are a few cultivars on the market to try such as Mahonia x media ‘Charity,’ ‘Winter Sun,’ and ‘Underway.’
There are plenty of plants that provide winter interest, the key is to identify them in the winter and plant them in the following growing season.
Traditionally camellias are thought of as a southern shrub, not at all tolerant of mid-Atlantic winters. Recently a variety of cold hardy cultivars have been bred to withstand the cold temperatures and depending on the cultivar, bloom in fall, winter, or spring. For one that blooms in the winter, check out the Winter series.
Heavenly bamboo, Nandina domestica, produces grape-like clusters of red berries and part of the bamboo-like leaves will bronze up or become reddish. Not a true bamboo, Nandina domestica is a large evergreen shrub, about 5 to 6 feet tall. “Nandina has nice foliage and nice berries,” says Vincent. “The straight species is tall and graceful.” There has been a tremendous amount of hybridization recently making this a popular landscape plant. Most of the new cultivars are smaller than the species and primarily grown for foliage, which can turn red or bronze during the cold months.
Recently a type of an Asian flowering dogwood has been introduced in this country that remains “evergreen” throughout the winter. Like the Korean dogwood (Cornus kousa), the small tree blooms white flowers in the spring and produces similar red, raspberry-like fruits in the fall, but unlike the Korean dogwood, Cornus angustata ‘Empress of China’ retains its leaves throughout winter. In early spring, the old leaves slough off as new leaves are produced creating an evergreen effect.
Narrow-leaved evergreens, also known as conifers, are too numerous to count. There are many types of junipers (Juniperus), arborvitae (Thuja), and yew (Taxus), not to mention the pine trees and spruces. A great shrub for this area is plum yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia, because it is deer resistant and can tolerate some shade. Hinoki falsecypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) has great fan shaped branches while threadleaf falsecypress (C. pisifera) has long thread-like stems. Both are available in green or gold colors. There are many “dwarf” conifers, suitable for small gardens, in various shades of green, gold, and blue.
There are plenty of plants that provide winter interest, the key is to identify them in the winter and plant them in the following growing season. “If you put together a compendium of these plants,” advises Vincent, “you will be able to extend the seasons and offer shelter to wildlife.”
Peggy Riccio is a Contributing Editor to ChesapeakeHome.
Contacts:
Brookside Gardens: brooksidegardens.org or 410-962-1400
Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park: plantingfields.com or 516-922-9200
Terra Nova Nurseries: terranovanurseries.com
