Every year I am bewildered when I see garden centres and supermarkets selling ‘painted’ heathers in a variety of garish colours.
Heathers
Tag: winter flowering
Shrubs and plants that flower during the winter – flowering usually during the the months of December, January or February.
Helleborus
I decided on a macro shot of a beautiful speckled Helleborus, taken from the posy of flowers I picked in the garden today. I adore the colours in this flower and deliberately gave it a soft bokeh.
Sarococca confusa (Sweet box)
The flowers on this evergreen shrub are quite unspectacular and you could easily pass by without noticing them, if it wasn’t for the fragrance that fills the air. It is also known as Sweet box or Christmas box. They flower from December to February and are followed by shiny black fruit. Grow close to a path where you can appreciate the scent. An easy-to-grow shrub that likes shade and reaches about four feet in height. It spreads a little, but is not invasive – the new shoots are easy to pull up and you can give them away to your friends.
Mahonia ‘Winter sun’
Winter sun is a wonderful name for this Mahonia, its daffodil yellow flowers contrasting with its red winter foliage.
Hellebore (Christmas Rose)
For today’s image, I wandered round my garden in the sunshine between the rain and was delighted to find this stunning white Helleborus orientalis. Other names for Hellebore are Christmas rose and Lenten rose, after the time when it flowers. What look like petals are actually sepals on a hellebore.
Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’
This lovely shrub has started flowering and is a valuable source of food for any bees still out and about.
Although a deciduous shrub, it flowers throughout the winter, producing fragrant pink blooms, set against cinnamon coloured bark. The leaves in spring are beautiful bronze, turning red in the autumn.
