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Winter interest ideas - novice

7 replies

TremoloGreen · 09/09/2014 14:45

Hi all, I am somewhat of a novice gardener, however I have had quite a lot of luck in the last couple of years and am pretty pleased with my garden - it tends to look very nice from Spring to Autumn. However, there is little of interest growing in Winter and I am planning to put my flat on the market in January. It seems a shame not to highlight what my tiny outside space can do, since I have had such fun with it.

The 'garden' is really just a small terrace-style space, stone floor and high walls so there are only small patches of sun, mostly shade and everything is grown in containers! At the moment, I grow lots of herbs, but many of these die back in the winter and also snowy woodrush, evergreen hydrangea, nasturtium, lobelia, jasmine, bacopa and euonymus but a lot of this will not be flowering or looking it's best in Jan. Can anyone recommend some inexpensive but pretty bedding plants I can stick in, or maybe some bulbs and advice on when to plant them? Many thanks.

OP posts:
Ferguson · 09/09/2014 19:05

I'll try and come back to you in a day or two, but busy for now.

Phineyj · 09/09/2014 19:22

I would put in cyclamen and daffodil bulbs now (tete a tete are an early flowering variety). Maybe ornamental cabbage (more attractive than it sounds).

Ferguson · 10/09/2014 18:01

Here is a lovely link for you, saves me having to spell it all out:

www.weekendgardener.net/flower-bulbs/firstspring-010901.htm

Re cyclamen: ours are flowering now (thousands of them), so unless you get a special variety for Jan-March flowering I don't know if they would be in bloom.

Hellebores are larger, super range of subtle colours from white, through muted pinks, browns, greens mixtures, to almost black. Easy to grow, and divide to make more, but you haven't much time for that. Pulmonaria (lungwort) is tough and easy, mixed pinks/blues up to whites and dark blue (Bluel Ensign). Mottled leaves, including an almost silver variety.

If by any chance, you have any gardens near you open under the National Garden Scheme, if you go and enthusiastically admire plant there, you may be able to buy or scrounge plants. Garden centres sell off end-of-season plants quite cheaply sometimes, but the look a bit tatty by then.

Ornamental grasses are another possibility: if you see any in local gardens you might be able to acquire bits.

www.ngs.org.uk/gardens.aspx

mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2014/01/20/helleborus-x-sahinii-winterbells-a-lovely-new-hellebore-hybrid.aspx

thebloominggarden.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/two-historic-hellebores/

www.plantsforshade.co.uk/acatalog/Pulmonaria.html

Ornamental grasses will flower right through winter, until cut over for next season. Smaller Stipa (Pony Tails) look lovely with sun shining through them. If you have a local grasses specialist, again you may be able to buy/cadge something.

www.knollgardens.co.uk/product-category/grasses/

And if you plant something you like, when property is sold, you can always dig up and take to you new home.

MaudantWit · 10/09/2014 18:40

How about sarcococca confusa, ie sweet box? It flowers in the dead of winter and the scent is gorgeous.

As everything is in containers, you can (obviously) take your whole garden with you when you move.

funnyperson · 10/09/2014 21:34

winter jasmine:
mahonia
witchhazel
daphne
sarcococcus

crocuses
snowdrops
hellebores
primroses
anemone
scilla
chinodoxia

clematis jingle bells
clematis wisley cream
garrya elliptica james roof

structural plants eg grasses
topiary box/yew etc
dogwood

camellias
www.my-garden-school.com/a-walk-in-the-winter-garden-the-sir-harold-hillier-gardens/

TremoloGreen · 11/09/2014 10:05

Wow, thank you for all these ideas and inspiration guys! I will take a look when I get a quiet 15 mins today - I knew this would be the place to ask! Grin

OP posts:
TomBrow · 09/02/2023 08:19

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