Farewell winter solstice

From now on, every day is one day closer to spring.

Nonetheless, I love winter.

I love the changes in the season, bare branches against the sky, early bulbs poking through the damp earth, the first jonquil.

There’s no more perfect time than early evening in the garden, a few late roses glowing in the sun’s last rays and the scent of wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) drifting across the lawn.

Autumn colours have hung on amazingly this year, despite the late onset of cool weather.

A new bed I’ve been planting is beginning to look lovely as – quite unintentionally on my part I might add – many of the plants I chose have terrific autumn colours.

Top of the list is a crab apple, Malus trilobata, endemic (restricted in nature) to Lebanon.

It’s a neat, conical tree whose small, maple-like leaves slowly turn yellow, orange and ultimately dark red and purple.

Nearby, my latest oak leaf hydrangea, H. quercifolia ‘Alice’ has also coloured beautifully but looks like an unusually slow growing form of this normally quick shrub.

I’ll reserve judgement: often exciting-sounding cultivars turn out to be no better than the original species, if indeed as good.

B. x ottawensis ‘Silver Miles’, on the other hand, looks like a winner.

This medium shrub (2.5 – 3 metres) is a cross between B. thunbergii and the common barberry, B. vulgaris, and I’m hoping has the best of both parents: brilliant autumn colour and plenty of flowers and fruit, though mine hasn’t flowered yet.

The form ‘Silver Miles’ has silvery flecks on the reddish purple leaves, though I can’t say these are a noticeable feature. I was admiring the contrasting bright yellow leaves of another barberry, B. ‘Golden Glow’ when our first real frost, a crunching -3 C. put an end to my pleasure, though the golden carpet on the ground looks pretty.

Other shrubs in this bed include three suckers of a fast growing Smokebush, Cotinus ‘Flame’ with orange, purple and red leaves lasting many weeks, and some clumps of rosemary covered in pale blue flowers all winter.

I still need more ground cover for this area. I’d hoped a low, spreading mahonia (M. x wagneri) might do the trick but it’s painfully slow.

The large, shiny, pinnate leaves are good though, pale green, tinted pinky bronze in spring and now bright red, but no sign so far of any primrose yellow flowers.

A prostrate euphorbia (E. cyparissias) with ferny, dark green leaves that change to buff and yellow in winter is doing a good job of galloping over the ground, though something tells me it will need watching.

I’m looking out for the form ‘Fen’s Ruby’ which sounds gorgeous: tiny, limey yellow flowers in spring contrast with ruby red leaves. Being a cultivar, it might be less rampant than the species.

I need a few winter flowers to round off this corner.

A rusty orange poker, Kniphofia ‘Winter Cheer’ would be perfect, with some ‘Paperwhite’ jonquils.

The ground level, dark purple Iris reticulata can take over in August – perfect.