Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2011/January 2012 | Page 84
Gardening
with Tina Hughes
Tina trained as a professional gardener after leaving school
and spent a summer working in Tuscany as an English
Gardener. She has a National Diploma in Horticulture.
After the jolly riot of summer,
the somber colours and subtle shades
of winter bring new ways to enjoy
our gardens. Fading seed and flower
heads of plants such as Agapanthus,
Cardoons, Hydrangeas and ornamental
grasses look wonderful rimmed with
morning frost in late autumn and the
early weeks of winter, if you can resist
the temptation to tidy everything up.
The hollow stems and curled leaves
offer refuges for many beneficial
insects to over-winter and these
and the seed heads provide food for
foraging birds.
Plants that bloom in the winter
are another source of delight, winter
aconites Eranthis hyemalis are great
for brightening up a dull area under
a deciduous tree or shrub, they can
be a challenge to get growing but I
have found that soaking the tubers for
a short time until they are nice and
plump before planting really helps.
Hardy cyclamen C.coum are useful
for naturalizing, the elegant marbled
foliage is particularly attractive and the
flowers appear continually throughout
the winter in shades of pink and white.
When they are established they will
self seed happily, I have seen them
recently growing thickly along a flight
of stone steps which made it possible
to enjoy the intricate details of the
leaves and flowers at eye level.
Winter flowering shrubs are often
overlooked because they can be
rather dull during the summer, but
if you have the space they can be
rather a special addition as many are
beautifully fragrant. There are more
varieties than you might expect,
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Mahonina, Daphne odorata and Cornus
mas to name a few. One my personal
favourite is V x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
with clusters of pink flowers on the
bare branches, lovely against a bright
blue winter sky. Shrubby honeysuckles
Lonicera x purpusii do not climb but
give off the same delicious scent from
miniscule flowers. One of the best
ways to enjoy these shrubs is to pick a
few twigs before they have come into
flower and bring them indoors.
As a finale to this collection of winter
beauties you could add the evergreen
clematis C.cirrhosa ‘Balearica’ on a
south or west facing wall where you
can enjoy the attractive fern like glossy
leaves and the fragrant, creamy red
speckled flowers.
gardening
gardening
gardening
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84
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Tel: 01983 721333
Mobile: 07977 578054
Highwood Farm, Main Road, Rookley, IW