Winter Bark, Leaves and Twigs.

One of the joys of winter is the black tracery of the branches of naked trees against a reddish blue sky . But for the garden I wanted something more colourful . The muted palette of the wintertime countryside has its charm but I need a bit of pizzazz to avail me through the prospicient winter day . With our volatile climate we have to capture our horticultural pleasures where we can . I first made a winter garden twenty years ago after being bowl over by the one at Cambridge Botanical Garden . It is fun to do , it clear you look at shrub and trees with young eye as you tax how they will take care in winter , either as foliage or bark .

Four years ago I started to create one here although on a minor shell . I wrote about it on my web log . This is what it front like once the sod was removed and it was all poke over . The pile is well rotted manure from Pickles up the route .

I am so proud of with how it has matured . I planted tree diagram and shrubs with gorgeous stems and barque which forge a lovely skeleton to the garden . They bear out against the shape and grain of evergreens . Many people wo n’t plant conifers , but a few well opt ones are lovely in winter . I would n’t be withoutAbies koreanawhich has upright cones like candles along its stiff branches . This is the first class that it has had cones , I am hoping that next twelvemonth they will be on all the branches . Here it is surrounded by the colorful fore of dogwood . The red-faced one isCornus alba‘Baton Rouge ’ and the orange one isCornus Sanguinea‘Midwinter blast ’ .

Bronze foliage ofCryptomeria japonica‘Elegans’ on the left.

I also loveCryptomeria japonica‘Elegans ’ because it has feathery leafage which turns from immature to bronzey -red in wintertime .

Bronze leaf ofCryptomeria japonica‘Elegans ’ on the left .

Cornus should be geld back in the spring so that the raw shoot with the best colour are on show the take after wintertime . I do n’t cut back all the stalk of ‘ Midwinter Fire ’ because it is not such a potent grower as some of the others . But the greenish - gold stemmedCornus sericea‘Flaviramea ’ is very robust and rapidly recovers from its annual haircut .

Bronze foliage ofCryptomeria japonica‘Elegans’ on the left.

The white stemmed bramble Rubus thibetanus has a adorable spiritual appearance . It can be invasive but I hold in it by cut it back each twelvemonth and making certain it is not drift about the bed .

The two Tree I planted already look quite mature with lovely bark . Betula albosinensis‘Pink Champagne ’ has pink peeling barque with a white blooming . The slight bush on the left hand is Cornus sericea ‘ Kelseyi ’ , a heavyset dogwood with fine , webbed reddish brown stem .

Cornus sericea ‘ Kelseyi ’ withBetula albosinensis‘Pink Champagne ’

Every wintertime garden has to have a Tibetan cherry , Prunus serrrulabecause of the gorgeous shiny , cinnamon -coloured barque .

genus Prunus serrula

ruby cornus is lovely , I have bothCornus siberica‘Westonbirt ’ and ‘ Baton Rouge ’ , but nothing can match acers for the reddest of red stem .

Bronze foliage ofCryptomeria japonica‘Elegans’ on the left.

Acer conspicuous”Red Flamingo ’

The hose in the next picture is commemorate out the latest bit of lawn which will soon vanish . I pass on it out for a few mean solar day until I am satisfied with the shape .

Acer pensylvaticum‘Erythrocladum ’

before long I will have lovely ament , the first single are on the corkscrew hazel which Bowles grew in the field of his garden called the ‘ lunatic asylum ’ .

Corylus avellana‘Contorta ’

I do n’t know whether Bowles knew it , but I should thinkMuelenbeckia astoniis also a nominee for his moonstruck asylum , its crazy telegram - like stems attend like drag twine .

Muelenbeckia astoni

I shall probably regret planting a phormium , I once tried to dig up a mature one and it nearly kill me . Having say that I pick up a bright , shocking pinkish one the other day and I was almost tempt .

Phormium on the right .

I bed the Charles Hardin Holley like foliage ofOsmanthus heterophyllus‘Koshiki ’ with its pick speckle leaves .

Osmanthus heterophyllus‘Goshiki ’

For bright leafage I have the unusualPhotinia x fraseri‘Pink Marble ’ .

Cornus sericea ‘Kelseyi’ withBetula albosinensis‘Pink Champagne’

Photina xfraseri ‘ Pink Marble ’

The shrub to the correct isMahonia eurbracteata‘Soft Caress ’ which make a modification from the more usual barbed one .

The rather nude coming into court of the dirt in front is where I have latterly flesh out the bed . As you’re able to see I fill a skillful large chunk out of the lawn and got free of this silly bender . I have started the planting . To my delight I got this delightful weeping crab Malus pumila for £ 10.50 because it had fall back its label . I think it might be ‘ Red Sentinel ’ and a crab orchard apple tree that string up on to its yield into January is just what is need here .

Prunus serrula

Oh but wait a minute , no rather had I plant it then this happened . A hungry merle .

I have also blow up the bed here to give a good human body and more room . I take a practiced clod off the lawn and enclosed my special white bloom Japanese Apricot safely inside the layer away from the mad man on the lawn mower .

This is what it looks like now .

Acer conspicuous”Red Flamingo’

I have constitute the blackCornus alba‘Kesselringii with white ling .

Cornus alba‘Kesselringii ’

There are plenty of jewel like winter prime already in bloom and lots more to get along as we go into the spring . But they are for another post .

Acer pensylvaticum‘Erythrocladum’

In June I become so besotted with roses that I want to fill the garden with them . But in the winter I become just as excited by my wintertime garden . And it keeps on give for six calendar month and more . And count at my last grotty turning point under the trees here , just waiting for me to expand into .

46 Responses toWinter Bark, Leaves and Twigs.

That is delightful , for certain ! I retrieve the previous owner , here , must have done some similar wintertime provision because when we do n’t have snow ( and even sometimes when we do ) , the colorful and interesting origination planting are telling ( I can only take minor credit for my few increase ) . I jazz your wintertime garden ! The barque of ‘ Pink Champagne ’ and the web branches of the Corylus and the Muehlenbeckia are particularly fascinating !

It get tremendous sense to me to garden for use during all your seasons , even though I experience in a climate that really only has two seasons . I ’d jazz to have an Abies koreana , which I admire every sentence I see it but have had to recognize that it would n’t live here . The inclusion of the Phormium in your garden surprised me , especially as the garden bloggers in the Pacific Northwest with a mood closer to yours frequently complain about PKW ( Phormium kill winter ) .

Corylus avellana‘Contorta’

Winter Bark, Leaves and Twigs.