I look out my window and see deep pink, ruffled flowers covering my Blireiana flowering plum. It’s one of my favorite early spring-blooming plants, and those fragrant blossoms are strong enough to scent my garden.
It grows next to an Autumnalis flowering cherry that blooms nearly every month of the year. I’m not kidding — it’s the Energizer bunny of the flowering tree world.
We all look forward to the earliest flowers of the new season. What else blooms in winter that you might want to have in your garden? Here are just a few suggestions.
Forsythia
One old-fashioned shrub that figured prominently in many old gardens is forsythia. Deep golden-yellow flowers completely cover the bare stems in late winter and become the focal point of the landscape when in full bloom. The showy stems of this easy-care shrub are great for cutting.
Forsythias are native to eastern Asia, but a chance discovery in Germany by a grower who specialized in breeding for the cut-flower industry led to the especially vivid variety Kolgold in the 1800s. Forsythia has long been used in Chinese medicine, because the flower petals have powerful bacteria-fighting properties, which make it an important dressing.
Hellebores
Hellebores are another type of winter-blooming plant with foliage that looks great, too. My double purple one has been blooming for well over a month.
I’ve got my eye on a variety called Golden Sunrise. Each plant is different, with variations of large, canary yellow flowers. Some are solid yellow, but most have some degree of red veining and a red picotee edge. Some have a red starburst in the center.
Hellebores bloom for six weeks or more and are deer and rabbit resistant. They are often flowering during the Christian season of Lent, from which they get their common name, Lenten rose. Use them for naturalizing in woodland areas. They are a low-maintenance plant, will survive with little water and are disease and pest free.
Clivia
What would a shade garden be without a bright orange clivia? Every year, I look forward to their huge flower clusters emerging from the dark green, strappy leaves. Even in dark shade, they will bloom and brighten the winter garden, although they would do fine in morning sun.
If you have a north-facing window, you can grow them as houseplants. Clivias are hardy to several degrees below freezing, but mine, under an overhang, have survived temps of 23 degrees without damage.
Clivia breeders have produced gold and peach-colored flowers, also, but I still like the standard orange, and they didn’t cost $599 like the plants I saw offered on the Internet. I thought the price might have been a misprint, but on further investigation I found another site offering the yellow Gloria clivia for a mere $950. I’ll stick with my orange ones.
Hardenbergia
A beautiful vine that blooms in winter is Hardenbergia ‘Happy Wanderer’. In the pea family, this evergreen vine looks like a small wisteria when in bloom. Pinkish purple flowers cascade in clusters on twining stems that reach 12 to 16 feet long. It requires little water once established and is hardy to about 23 degrees.
If you have an older, tangled plant, you can rejuvenate it with hard pruning in early spring after flowering. Never prune in late summer or fall, because you will cut off the wood that is going to bloom the following winter.
Fragrant Sarcococca
The last plant I couldn’t live without is fragrant Sarcococca. The tiny flowers of this plant are easily overlooked, but you can’t miss their scent. If you have a problem spot in dry, deep shade, give this plant a try. It’s easy to grow, deer resistant and trouble free.
– Jan Nelson, a landscape designer and California certified nursery professional, will answer questions about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Email her at
ja******@ao*.com
, or visit www.jannelsonlandscapedesign.com to view past columns and pictures.
