6 minute read
Gardening
Winter cheer in the garden
Hardy plants that are not only tough enough to stand up to harsh winter conditions but which look great no matter the weather, are a wonderful investment, performing year after year to cheer us up in these dark, short days. Treat yourself to some winter cheer, or with Christmas just around the corner, give a growing gift that will get bigger and better as the years pass.
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Topiary plants - evergreens stylishly trimmed in a variety of architectural shapes – give handsome substance and structure all year round. For the festive season, they also make a fantastic basis for an outdoor display in front gardens, patio pots, and raised beds, wreathed with fairy lights or Christmas decorations. Shapes vary from simple balls and small pyramids to more grandiose tall spirals or standards with a clear stem and a ‘head’ of foliage. A matching pair emphasise and complement doors and gateways; taller plants create structural height in a patio or courtyard while small topiaries look fabulous in window boxes. Popular topiary plants include Box, small leaved Privet, Bay, and of course the Christmas classic, holly. This prickly character comes in a range of leaf colours from dark glossy green to bright variegations of gold and silver that are perfect for winter cheer. Female varieties bear berries: usually glowing sealing-wax red, as well as yellow, though berries are only borne if a male variety is growing nearby.
Winter-flowering shrubs are few, but those which bloom whatever the weather are real gems. Every garden is likely to have a corner for
Hamamelis
Christmas box (Sarcococca), a neat little evergreen happy in sun or shade that is a mid-winter delight, smothered in little tassels of creamy-white flowers that aren’t the showiest to look at, but have an amazingly strong scent. Much more space is needed for a plant that combines bright blooms, scent, and autumn leaf colour: witch hazel or Hamamelis, which slowly forms a large shrub 2-3 metres high and wide. My top choice is the variety ‘Pallida’, with bright lemon-yellow, delightfully fragrant flowers. Growth can be restricted by pruning just after the flowers fade, or with care and patience it’s possible to train Hamamelis into a fan or espalier shape to fit a relatively small space. Finally, easy shrubs that are tops for scent, but not much for looks, are the shrubby winter-flowering honeysuckles Lonicera fragrantissima and L. purpusii.
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I grow mine in an out-of-the-way border and harvest stems of creamy-white flowers to bring in and enjoy indoors. Winter plant care
Protect susceptible plants growing in pots if very cold weather is forecast. Any really tender plants like geraniums, fuchsias, and other patio plants should be tucked up indoors (hopefully already).
Move hardy and borderline hardy plants in pots against a sheltered, ideally south-facing house wall, and stand close together so they protect each other. These plants are vulnerable to frost damage as all the rootball is above ground, so wrap the pots in insulating material like bubble polythene or sacking. During severe frosts, wrap the top growth in thick horticultural ‘frost’ fleece. Good drainage is important so make sure pots standing on paving can drain freely by raising them just off the ground using pot supports or putting pieces of slate or tile beneath. Standing pots on gravel is ideal.
Tender plants in greenhouses and polytunnels mostly survive with little or no additional heat unless the temperature goes well below zero. The important thing is to water sparingly as plants tolerate a surprising amount of cold so long as they don’t have ‘wet feet’. Regularly pick off dead leaves and faded flowers as these quickly become infested with grey mould that could spread to live growth.
Large shrubs that are destined to be pruned in spring, such as roses, butterfly bush (Buddleja), and mallow (Lavatera) are at risk of wind damage. Reduce growth by half now so there’s less to blow about.
Sue Fisher
Sue Fisher
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Cottage garden wildlife
Not long ago our garden was responding to autumn with changing leaf colours, abundant fruit and seeds, flowering ivy and colourful fungi. We were saying goodbye to swallows and redstarts starting their six-week return journey to Africa. But now winter is here. Our hedgehog no longer gathers nest material and sleeps under the old stone trough. Adult peacock and tortoiseshell butterflies have moved indoors to the conservatory. A young field cricket occupies the downstairs loo – a positive sign that numbers are improving.
The extended October warm spell meant many insects began seeking winter shelter later this year. We’ve enjoyed watching a huge garden spider eyeing up our wooden letterbox as a more hospitable refuge, and the large ladybird cluster discovered last year under the bedroom windowsill is back. In the same room is an incomplete bell-shaped solitary wasp nest hanging from the curtains - started during the summer, but then abandoned.
Night-time frosts have encouraged our friendly toad to return to his favourite corner in the garage; how he squeezes his bulky body under the door is not yet known. Impervious to the cold with denser fur than other shrews, a solitary water-shrew has been spotted hunting aquatic prey in the pond.
We’ve enjoyed the grey squirrel antics as they try fathoming out where they squirrelled away their winter nut supply. Squirrels are supposed to have good spatial memories to relocate cached food larders - the many unsuccessful holes in our lawn suggest otherwise!
Finally, we’ve enjoyed testing Exeter University’s findings about the pecking order of birds using seed and nut feeders. Our observations suggest the more aggressive birds, such as nuthatches, dominate the nut feeders, while larger birds, such as sparrows and finches, hold sway on the seed feeders. The smaller ones, such as tits and dunnocks, simply wait patiently until a gap opens in the queue. One bird that always trumps the others, however, is the Great Spotted Woodpecker, whose sudden and noisy arrival simply scatters all diners far and wide until he leaves.
Country Mouse
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