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yeona_sky

Best/Worst Winter Plants 2001:2002

yeona_sky
22 years ago

Winter is winding down, and spring is only 31 days away. What is growing in you winter garden? What are your best and worst winter plants so far?

My best are the sweetbox (sarcococca hookeriana humilis) and the Viburnum tinus spring bouquet. Hopefully next year the Osmanthus fragrans, Osmanthus Delayvai and Viburnum bodnantense dawn will be blooming happily. Right now they're too young.

My worst is the winter jasmine, too few flowers, and the calicarpa dichotoma, few flowers and no berries.

Yeona

Comments (7)

  • John_D
    22 years ago

    Your winter jasmine and beauty berry may still be too young to have lots of flowers/berries. Give them time.

    My Sarcococca went into the opposite direction: it came in roaring like a lion after I first planted it, but has been whimpering like a puppy for the last two winters.

  • swilly
    22 years ago

    My camellias are blooming, verbena still going, azaleas at there end.

    My bougainvillas lost their leaves, my mandevilla looks dead but I'm hoping they will come back.
    Swilly
    Zone 9

  • torenia
    22 years ago

    Hello to you lucky 8 and 9 zone gardeners. How wonderful to have camellias and azaleas blooming. Here in zone 6 Massachusetts I anxiously await the appearance of anything, even a crocus. Although the daffodils stems are quite a bit above ground. We pretty much rely on attractive berries to get us through the winter blahs. My calicarpas are still loaded with berries(a particular favorite of the mockingbirds), as are the crabapples and hollies.

  • John_D
    22 years ago

    Lucky you! The birds ate up all of my Callicarpa berries (but I don't mind sharing).

    The early spring camellias are starting to bloom (though the winter varieties have not yet fully quit). One of my purple plums is blooming and the first daffodils have opened up.

  • yeona_sky
    Original Author
    22 years ago

    John, I'm trying to be patient with my smaller plants but the callicarpas I see in the nurseries are loaded with berries, and they are young as well. The jasmine nudiflorum is quite sparse but at least there are some flowers. I really want to espalier the jasmine to control it and maybe get better bloom on sideways branches. Maybe the callicarpa I have went into shock when transplanted, but it's been there for two years. That's too bad about your Sarcococca. Do you know what the problem is?

    Swilly, which Verbena do you grow? I read they're a good butterfly plant. I must get more Camellias, as well. Both you and John have them and they seem to add color year round.

    Which is everybodyÂs favorite Camellia right now?
    Thanks,
    Yeona

  • Bonitoad
    22 years ago

    Every winter through rain, frost or snow , my Grevillia blooms it's orange bottle-brush type flowers. It hasn't figured out what hemisphere it's in....a most welcomed sight..

  • Newt
    21 years ago

    I read somewhere that the callicarpa gets more berries if you grow more than one. I have one for 4 years now and hardly get any berries. I'm thinking of getting another to keep it company.

    Last spring I bought a chamaecyparis 'snow mound' that has croaked over the winter. I'm very disappointed. I have a small walled garden and I really need the evergreens.

    I have a heuchera 'plum pudding' that stayed a beautiful plum color all winter. I just love it and wish I had more of them. My hardy geranium 'Bevan's variety' has stayed green as well and makes a nice mound over the winter.

    Newt

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