Winter Wonders!
By spritzhenry
17 comments
Christmas is over for another year, and maybe your garden is asleep? I must admit that I haven’t been able to do much clearing and mulching yet, but my garden still has some beautiful flowers to cheer the cold winter days. Come in and see for yourselves.
Narcissus ’Rijnveldt’s Early’
Yes, growing in the lawn near the gate I have early Narcissus in bloom – so lovely, I call them ‘Harbingers of Spring’.
Carry on walking past that large shrub – but take a careful look, because it has small fragrant flowers on it. You may have smelt the scent before you saw them!
Walk across the main lawn – we’re going to look at those lime green flowers.
They’re Helleborus foetidus, and they come into their own in winter.
The first Hellebore to flower is the ‘Christmas Rose’, or Helleborus niger. It often produces flowers in early December, and did a few weeks ago.
Other Hellebores are producing promising fat buds.
Under the weeping ash tree, the first Cyclamen coum are in bloom – they look even more wonderful when the snowdrops around them open up.
Now walk over the bridge and look at the Viburnum tinus. It flowers all winter; in fact it seems to have a flower or two all year round!
The small Viburnum with the scented flowers is Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’. It will grow much larger in a few years’ time.
That yellow flowered shrub is probably familiar to you – it’s Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). Pretty, but sadly, no scent.
Oh look! There’s another Hellebore in bloom – H. viridis, snuggling up to that pretty Hebe.
Some dwarf Hebes are as colourful as flowers in the winter. Definitely worth a place in the border.
We’re on our way to admire my winter flowering Clematis. I have three C. cirrhosa and one rather unusual summer dormant plant – C. napaulensis. Its flowers are very small, so you have to get close to them to see their beauty.
In view of the garden room where I can sit and look out at the garden, there’s Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’, which is probably the most popular winter Clematis. It is vigorous here and I take the shears to it after it’s flowered!
On the way to see one of the other Clematis, I must show you some shy Irises, hiding amongst their leaves. This is Iris unguicularis and it prefers a sheltered spot.
In the back garden on the trellis is C.cirrhosa ‘Wisley Cream’, which also had a hard prune last year. It seems to have thrived on it, though!
In the bed close by is my absolute favourite shrub – Coronilla valentina ‘Glauca’.
I shall take you back to the gate now – but please look up at the house wall as you walk along the path. The final winter flowering Clematis is cascading down the wall and looks amazing!
Clematis cirrhosa ‘Lansdowne Gem’
Underneath is Vinca difformis ‘Jenny Pym’ which is a bit of a thug. She’s so pretty I forgive her! Right next to her is another Vinca.
Be careful not to tread on the primroses by the main gate, won’t you!
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my winter flowers. They bring me great pleasure, and of course, there are many more to come in the weeks ahead.
6 Jan, 2015
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Comments
Winter flowers are such a joy! They are so resilient and valiantly survive the onslaughts of severe frost and deep snow! We enjoy the ones in our garden more in the barren winter landscape than we do in the height of summer.
6 Jan, 2015
A lovely Winter garden with lovely Spring flowers. I wish mine looked yours. I think it's well and truly asleep.
Marjorie
6 Jan, 2015
It does not look like winter at all. Wonderful selection of plants for winter interest.
6 Jan, 2015
Those are amazing! My garden is so miserable at the moment its lovely to see your beatutiful colours!
6 Jan, 2015
Oh Spritz how lucky you are.
6 Jan, 2015
Some lovely pics. there Spritz....'fraid my garden is in sleep mode, although my Viburnum is wide awake with lots of flowers!: Love the Coronila
7 Jan, 2015
When you realise how many winter flowering plants and shrubs there are, it's a matter of grabbing opportunities to place them to give maximum joy in a dull cold season!
I have a great book by Stefan Buczacki with so many ideas for winter flowering planting. Well worth buying. :-))
I'm glad you enjoyed looking at my flowers. :-)
7 Jan, 2015
Wow Barbara, so much colour! That's another plus for the large garden isn't it, you can plant for all seasons, and in your milder climate those lovely hebes can survive too. Yes, I'm jealous:-)))
7 Jan, 2015
I remember him on tv Spritz, very clever man and brilliant gardener I think......
I'm jealous too all I found was a few brave violas
7 Jan, 2015
We have Viburnum & Azelia flowering. Roses. ! Carnation. ! Primrose. Pulled up weeds a few days ago & gathered a ton of more leaves...BUT its raining....even Ashby is not out
7 Jan, 2015
What a delight to see all these wonderful flowers, and what a show of clematis, very uplifting B.......
7 Jan, 2015
Thanks, Dd. :-)
Yes, B'bill, it's amazing what's out, even at this time of year. I have several clumps of primroses, usually self-sown in the wrong place where people walk. Why can't they grow in a safer place?
We had yet another wet day yesterday, too. :-(
8 Jan, 2015
Such beautiful blooms to brighten up your day and they really do speak of spring to me. I noticed my first daff today and the primroses seem to flower all winter. My wonderfully scented daphne bohlua is just about to flower, which fills me with joy and is my favourite. But my garden is nowhere near as fabulous as your paradise.
10 Jan, 2015
Don't know how I missed this, busy with work I'll have to blame. :o)
My Iris is also in flower I found the flower out when I walked by the back path. I didn't expect it to flower this year.
so happy to share your garden at this time of year, some wonderful shrubs. Is that a white Forsythia?
10 Jan, 2015
What a beautiful winter garden with so much colour and variety.
I think a comfy chair in your garden room would be my choice at this time of year.
The hellebore next to the hebe is so very pretty.
11 Jan, 2015
Thanks, Wildrose. I have to admit that in the wild and windy weather we're getting atm, I am not venturing outside! I did notice my first dwarf Iris (Lady Beatrix Stanley) was in bloom yesterday, but I didn't get a photo of her.
No, Sbg, that's a sprig of my Prunus subhirtella autumnalis! A mouthful of a name, but a lovely little tree, in flower atm. :-) My white Forsythia, whose name begins with 'Abe...' is a total failure. I'm not sure if it has even survived into 2015. :-(
12 Jan, 2015
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Oh Spritz how lovely.....
after the snow and hard frosts its difficult to see much colour here, more frost forecast tonight, very different to last year
6 Jan, 2015