Tag Archives: winter garden

A Southern Garden In January…More Than Meets The Eye

wintersweet...

wintersweet…

The last couple of posts have taken a tour through my southern garden in the midst of winter. This is just one garden. The design  possibilities of winter gardens in the south are as endless as there are plants to choose from and the creative (and physical) force to make it happen. On this walk, there are a few shrubs highlighted, a vine, an evergreen perennial, and some bulbs. So, here’s a little bit of everything to whet your appetite for spring and the long summer to follow. With the below normal temperatures we experienced earlier this month, some of these shrubs may not bloom as I’d expected…this is truly one of the perils of gardening in the south. It’s impossible to cover everything!

mountain laurel buds...

mountain laurel buds…

One shrub that I’ll  need to cut back after it blooms this year is Chimonanthus praecox, or Wintersweet. It certainly lives up to its name, as its many pale, bell shaped,  yellow flowers are indeed quite fragrant and bloom over a long period. The first day I catch a hint of Wintersweet on the air I know it’s the new year in the garden. Its fragrant blooms are followed by the even more heavily scented daphne odora next month. Fragrance each month of the year should be everyone’s goal in the garden!

pieris...

pieris…

 

 

 

For pretty flowers in late spring and glossy evergreen foliage, the mountain laurel, kalmia latifolia, can’t be beat. I’ve planted two small ones along a slope, hoping they’ll eventually create a tall evergreen thicket as a back drop to the spike winterhazel (corylopsis spicata ‘Ogon’) that’s planted in front of them.

My friend, and noted gardener, Weesie Smith, always said I must deadhead the blooms of the mountain laurel (and pieris too) to ensure blooms the next year. I do this faithfully…though it’s difficult with the pieris as there are so many! Both the mountain laurel and pieris are loaded with buds this year. The pieris will bloom first, with many, many tiny dangling white bell shaped flowers along its branches. How beautiful it is in the height of spring!

Disporopsis pernyi

Disporopsis pernyi

 

Planted at the base of a large elm are some evergreen solomon’s seal,  disporopsis pernyi.  This evergreen, slowly spreading perennial groundcover is right at home in a woodland garden, offering  white, bell shaped flowers along the stems in early spring.  This clump makes  a good green counterpoint to the variegated Solomon’s seal in the same area that dies back each winter.  It is truly a beautiful addition to any garden.

Schizophragma...

Schizophragma…

 

A vine with a scary name, Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Moonlight’, is also quite beautiful…though January might not be it’s best month. Also known by it’s common name, climbing hydrangea, because its blooms resemble those of the hydrangea, it was planted at the base of a tree and now has reached almost to the top, at least 30′ in the air. Its blooms will cover the tree trunk in mid summer, reaching out and away from the trunk. Though it took a few years before it bloomed, it has bloomed now reliably each summer.

Aquilegia..

Aquilegia..

 

 

Closer to the house, up in the herb garden, a columbine has seeded itself in a small, concrete planter. This is aquilegia chrysantha, with light yellow blooms on long spurs in late spring. The original columbine, a gift from a friend, is long gone, but this one found a happy home and has been here for a few years now. The extra drainage offered by the planter is appreciated by this columbine. All I’ve had to do is clear fallen leaves from the crown of the plant. It hasn’t died back yet; though, with colder temperatures, it might.

Ipheion...

Ipheion…

 

The ipheion, a little bulb that has slowly been spreading in this area, is now showing it’s short, strappy bulb foliage. The soft blue blooms will appear in early summer, ringing the base of this birdbath. It’s been one of my favorite bulbs since it’s easy to grow and naturalizes so readily. And, even more importantly, the squirrels and chipmunks don’t seem to care for it!

As you can see, there’s more than meets the eye in the January garden, and, if you know where to look, the promise of an entire season to come!

 

 

 

More To See On A Winter’s Walk Through A Southern Garden

Enemion biturnatum - False Rue Anemone - January

false rue anemone…

Cyclamen hederifolium - January

cyclamen hederifolium…

January is frigid in many parts of the country and can be a bleak month at best. But it’s also a good time to take a walk through your landscape, observing and planning.  Here are some things I spotted on a short walk recently.

 

Geranium 'Biokovo' - January

geranium ‘Biokovo’…

Native plants like false rue anemone, Enemion biturnatum, are beginning to show through the fallen leaves and promise  pure white blooms this spring. Only the bloodroot is a purer white.   The cyclamen hederifolium blooms are past,  but the pretty mottled foliage is spreading. Here’s some under a native azalea. There are also crocus bulbs interplanted with these cyclamen that will be coming through the leaf litter soon.

 

Selaginella uncinata - Peacock Spikemoss

selaginella…

Perennial geraniums are good, tough plants too. Here the foliage of Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’, a cranesbill geranium,  is looking quite happy along a rocky slope. It’s a pretty groundcover here and gets enough sun in this spot  to bloom in the late spring. After the white flowers tinged with pink fade, I’ll clip it back to keep it tidy.

 

Acorus variegata - Dry Riverbed - January

acorus variegata…

 

 

A little farther down the slope, and in more shade, is some selaginella uncinata, or peacock spikemoss. This groundcover is closely related to ferns and likes this shaded, moist spot. By midsummer, with enough moisture, it will be a lush, blue/green carpet underneath the trees and sheltered by the rock outcrop.

 

 

 

Below the rock outcrop, and along a dry riverbed, a spring provides water for evergreen acorus. In addition to Acorus ‘Ogon’, a yellow variegated form, here is the Acorus variegata, with a white variegation. Both of these love moisture, and  they spread freely. In February these will get cut back at the same time the dwarf mondo is cut, making  way for new, fresh growth.

Cyrtomium falcatum - Holly Fern - January

holly ferns…

 

Other plants that will need old, tattered, winter damaged fronds cut off next month are the perennial ferns, including  tassel (polystichum polyblepharum),  autumn (Drypteris erythrosora),  and, shown here, holly ferns (Cyrtomium falcatum). Sure, they’re evergreen, but, by winter’s end, they definitely need  cleaning up.  Wait until at least the end of February to do any drastic cutting back, though,  as the old foliage also helps protect the crown of the plants from cold temperatures.

 

 

 

Itea virginica & Hellebores - JanuaryAbove the water but spreading down the slope toward it, is a planting of Virginia sweetspire, Itea virginica ‘Henry’s Garnet’ , still holding the garnet colored fall foliage of its name. Underneath this spreading, suckering, shrub is another common evergreen perennial groundcover, the reliable Lenten roses, helleborus orientalis.

These two have gradually spread over the years, and the itea will also show off it’s dainty fragrant white blooms along arching stems this spring. It is truly an all season shrub, and the long lasting lenten roses blooming under them are good companions. Soon enough  it  will be  time to clip off old, winter damaged leaves of the lenten roses, but not yet.  January is the month to simply observe, taking time to enjoy a quiet walk through the garden on a sunny, chilly day.