{"id":3078,"date":"2015-01-14T10:38:59","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T18:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogadmin.plantlust.com\/blog\/?p=3078"},"modified":"2024-01-24T08:07:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T16:07:46","slug":"finding-that-elusive-winter-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/finding-that-elusive-winter-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding that elusive \u201cwinter interest\u201d\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

My garden is finally a place where I find myself winter engaged. I don\u2019t advert my eyes but rather intentionally partake. Getting to this point involved a lot of visiting gardens and nurseries during the winter months. How better to see what looks good this time of the year?<\/p>\n

Our local Chinese Garden, Lan Su, recently held a series of free open days. I decided to see how some of my favorites were doing, it\u2019s always nice to catch up with old friends.
\n\"NOID<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are (or were, one of my favorites seems to have gone missing) several mature mahonia in the garden. I find the bark of this one,\u00a0Mahonia lomariifolia<\/a>,\u00a0to be\u00a0quite striking.
\n\"Mahonia<\/a><\/p>\n

As are the blooms, a bright cheery yellow that looks even brighter when the skies are grey.
\n\"1<\/a><\/p>\n

Aspidistra<\/a> (aka Cast Iron Plant) is an underutilized jewel. As it’s common name implies it can take a beating, and still look good.
\n\"Aspidistra\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a horrible photo of a very cool plant,\u00a0Poncirus trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’<\/a>. In the summertime those curvy thorns are\u00a0camouflaged by small leaves, in the winter it’s all about the spikes.
\n\"Poncirus<\/a><\/p>\n

Chimonanthus praecox<\/a>\u00a0(Wintersweet), more cheerful blooms when we need them most. It seems almost like cheating to photograph them against a blue sky.
\n\"Chimonanthus<\/a><\/p>\n

Someone more versed in the ways of the\u00a0camellia could probably tell you which one this pink beauty is.\u00a0I can get part way there by filtering the plant lust search results to share only winter blooming camellias<\/a>.
\n\"Camellia<\/a><\/p>\n

Iris confusa<\/a>, a plant that looks best planted in mass.
\n\"Iris<\/a><\/p>\n

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’<\/a>, the orange blooming edgeworthia, although that’s hard to see now.
\n\"Edgeworthia<\/a><\/p>\n

On the lower right edge of the pond, nandina<\/a>. Common as dirt some would say, but beautiful none-the-less.
\n\"Nandina\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A great garden doesn’t depend on plants alone for winter interest…
\n\"garden<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardscape, structure and personality (some might call it garden art) are needed\u00a0as well.
\n\"hardscape\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Broad-leaved evergreens help too, in this case\u00a0Eriobotrya japonica<\/a>, the loquat.
\n\"Eriobotrya<\/a><\/p>\n

If you’re lucky (I have not been), you’ll even get blooms.
\n\"Eriobotrya<\/a><\/p>\n

Pyrrosia, perhaps P.\u00a0sheareri<\/a>, surprisingly a fern (!) and reportedly hardy to the single digits.
\n\"Pyrrosia\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rhododendron sinogrande<\/a>, incredibly huge leaves to 2ft long…
\n\"Rhododendron<\/a><\/p>\n

Your eyes do not deceive, there are both blue and green needles,\u00a0Pinus parviflora ‘Cleary’<\/a>.
\n\"Pinus<\/a><\/p>\n

And the yellow-blooming\u00a0Edgeworthia chrysantha<\/a>…
\n\"Edgeworthia<\/a><\/p>\n

The buds look rather delicate but they’re actually quite tough, surviving 12F in my garden last year with no damage.
\n\"Edgeworthia<\/a><\/p>\n

Jasminum nudiflorum<\/a>. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that so many winter-bloomers have\u00a0yellow flowers?
\n\"Jasminum<\/a><\/p>\n

Another big-leaved rhody, this one\u00a0Rhododendron calophytum<\/a>.
\n\"Rhododendron<\/a><\/p>\n

And the sexy bark of\u00a0Lagerstroemia ‘Tuscarora’<\/a>
\n\"Lagerstroemia<\/a><\/p>\n

Interesting bark is an often over-looked feature that really pops in the winter,\u00a0Pinus bungeana<\/a>.
\n\"Pinus<\/a><\/p>\n

And finally the buds of\u00a0Daphne odora, about to burst open and perfume the garden.
\n\"Daphne<\/a><\/p>\n

Where would you rank your garden on the winter-interest scale? Is it something that’s important to you, or do you enjoy hibernating this time of year and ignore the garden until spring?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My garden is finally a place where I find myself winter engaged. I don\u2019t advert my eyes but rather intentionally partake. Getting to this point involved a lot of visiting gardens and nurseries during the winter months. How better to see what looks good this time of the year? Our local Chinese Garden, Lan Su, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":3079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,47],"tags":[209,195,1897,1905,1270,1709,810,642,1900,1902,1116,809,1895,490,1904,1899,1333,531,1901,670],"yoast_head":"\nFinding that elusive \u201cwinter interest\u201d\u2026 - Plant Lust<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My garden is finally a place where I find myself winter engaged. I don\u2019t advert my eyes but rather intentionally partake. 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