October - 2002
Winter colour
 I place more importance on winter colour in
the garden than summer flowers. From October through to February, we can only gaze out at
our gardens from the warmth of our houses, often with precious little else to see other
than the deadened foliage of the previous season`s herbaceous perennials, dull deciduous
shrubbery, and trees that are stripped bare of their leaves. And yet there are so very
many beautiful evergreen and variagated shrubs and trees to be found. There are winter
berries for colour and deciduous shrubs grown mainly for their vivid bark which brightens
up a cheerless winter scene. I love the colours of my garden in the gloomy months, it
cheers me up so much, and was carefully planned to do just that, for us and
visitors.
My garden has been planted with a great many evergreen architectural
plants and shrubs, and is an ever changing tapestry which sets the garden ablaze with
colour during the winter months. Even the trees were chosen for their winter colour and
texture. For example I have some Silver Birch trees, Betula utilis Jacquemontii, which
have startling white smooth bark that looks as if it has been whitewashed, and about five
different varieties of Eucalyptus trees which have blue foliage, some with whitish pink
bark. They look stunning and are quite hardy. I have dogwoods that are pretty mundane when
they are adorned with foliage during the summer months, but when the leaves drop, wow, the
brilliant reds, greens and yellows of their bark really brightens up the garden. There is
a new dogwood I have, which to my mind is particularly beautiful and is suitably named
Cornus sanguinea `Midwinter Fire`.
 I also take care to make sure that
the textures and colours don`t clash with each other by first placing groups of plants or
shrubs together, much the same as if one was matching fabrics and wallpaper. I often look
at a border and think that perhaps something doesn`t quite fit,and would perhaps look
better a few feet along the border. If that happens I water the offending plant well for a
few hours, then move it to it`s new home, having first prepared a large enough hole with
compost and water. I don`t lose any plants at all. So don`t worry if you don`t get
it right first time!
I have walked around my garden and listed below some of my colourful
and structural favourites for you to look up in your gardening book, or on the internet.
The names of some of them may not be spelt correctly..
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