Gorgeous winter colours
The best gardens are those that have colour of some sort, during all four seasons.
I am a flower fancier, so need a plentiful supply to pick during spring, summer, autumn, and especially winter. From beautiful patterned bark, red berries, and colourful blooms, autumn and winter trees and shrubs add bursts of beauty during darker days.
Many trees, such as paper birch, Tibetan cherry, paper bark maple, and crepe myrtles, have beautiful bark. Crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia) also have colourful late summer blooms, and check out the red barked dogwood (Cornus alba Sibirica), which produces a mass of fiery crimson stems.
When it comes to berries, crab apples standout with their bright fruit, and they’re great for making crab apple jelly. Holly is a traditional winter berry bringer, especially in colder areas. Other shrubs with bright winter berries include Nandina, Skimmia, Hypericum, Mahonia, Viburnum davidii, and white snowberry (Symphoricarpos).
Magnolias, yellow daphne (Edgeworthia), camellias, rhododendrons, banksias, grevilleas, proteas, and leucadendrons are all popular winter flowering species.
Hardy erica varieties are excellent in colder regions, in a range of white, pink, red, and lilac, and don’t forget our natives. Manukas (Leptospermum) flower from late winter into spring, and the dwarf cultivars are ideal for small gardens or mass planting, available in a range from white through to pinks and reds. Many hebes flower in winter, as does the kōwhai, bringing bright bursts of yellow to gardens.
Here are varieties to check out:
GARRYA ELLIPTICA ‘JAMES ROOF’ – SILK TASSEL BUSH:
Strong and vigorous, with large leathery foliage, and long, silvery yellow tassel flowers up to 22cm in length, it does well in cooler regions in New Zealand.
CAMELLIA ‘FAIRY BLUSH’ – PINK FLOWERING CAMELLIA:
An evergreen hybrid with fine foliage and pink growth tips, small pink flowers, and a bushy habit suitable for formal hedging or topiaries. Grows to 2m high x 1m wide.
ILEX ‘HENDERSONII’ – SMOOTH LEAF HOLLY:
A smooth-leaf holly with dark green foliage, and clusters of red berries from early autumn through to winter. A hardy evergreen, it grows to 4m high x 2m wide.
CHAENOMELES ‘YOKUKU’ – FLOWERING QUINCE:
A smaller winter interest tree with white flowers on bare deciduous stems from mid-winter to spring, very hardy for cold and dry areas, attractive winter colour, and a source of nectar for native birds.
CORNUS ALBA ‘SIBERICA’ – REDSTEMMED DOGWOOD:
A popular, hardy deciduous tree with attractive coppery foliage in autumn, and deep double pink blossom in October. It grows to 6m high x 4m wide.
VIBURNUM TINUS – EVERGREEN VIBURNUM:
A hardy medium-sized plant with deep green oval leaves, producing clusters of deep red buds opening to small star white flowers through winter and into spring, followed by small red berries from summer into autumn.
SOPHORA ‘DRAGONS GOLD’ – SMALL NATIVE KŌWHAI:
A smaller-growing kowhai that maintains a compact, bushy dark green form. It has golden bell flowers early in winter and again in spring. An attractive small evergreen, that grows to 1.5-2m high.
