Return to the Winter Garden Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
A few of my favorite things...
| | |
Posted by NotEnoughRoses 7b/NTX (My Page) on Sun, Dec 16, 01 at 0:21
Yaupon and Possumhaw hollies, of course. I had been wanting to have a flock of cedar waxwings visit forever and finally did one day last winter. They stripped the hollies clean in just an hour, but I had such a wonderful time watching them and am hoping they return again this year.
Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica). It is such a wonderful shade of red right now. I am seeking a few more open spots in my garden where I plant some more!
Rose - Therese Bugnet - a hybrid rugosa. This is one of the first roses I planted and it is still one of my favorites. We cannot grow red-twigged dogwoods here, but this is an acceptable subsitute, I think. Right now its leaves are a bright red from the few frosts we have had and its branches are crimson red. Soon the leaves will all fall off, all the better to show off the branch color.
Rose - Martha Gonzalez - a "found" China rose. The foliage on this rose turns a nice shade of red in the fall and stays that way all winter long. In early spring, she will drop all her leaves, bloom, then put on new leaves.
Mesquite. Okay, I know this is a true love it/hate it tree... It is actually our neighbor's tree but overhangs our property. I just love all the birds that visit it in the winter. Plus, it has such a open and graceful form.
Herbs... I love the look of rosemary mixed into flower beds, especially when planted near a pathway. Cilantro and chervil - can't be without those during the winter. (My house rabbit loves them!) Salad burnett - grows by leaps and bounds during the winter, then sits and pouts all summer.
A little later into winter, I love my Bridal's wreath spirea. I know this is such a ho-hum plant the rest of the year, but I love the way it looks with the daffodils and species tulips.
Crepe myrtles. Okay, this is the most over-planted thing here in the south and I have never planted one on our property, but the place did come with a number of them and I have come to love their peeling bark and smooth trunks during the winter.
I am sure I am forgetting a few of my favorites plants, but that list is long enough! Please share! What are your favorite plants?
~ Suzie |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: A few of my favorite things...
| | |
| No flowers until the daffodils and tulips come up? |
RE: A few of my favorite things...
| | |
Does henbit count?! Okay, that's a winter blooming weed...
I did plant some sasanqua camellias last year but they are already done blooming. Am hoping in future years they will bloom a bit later and longer! I do have a bit of leftover fall color - roses still blooming, reblooming irises sending up new scapes, etc. Also, I plant a lot of mixed lettuce greens and edible kale - in addition to being tasty, offer nice color and texture to the winter garden.
Otherwise, not much for color, John. Generally I tend to just enjoy the falling leaves right now. Last fall I was going to plant pansies in several areas , but was in a serious car accident late October and couldn't bend right most of the winter. This year I am 8 months pregnant and still can't bend!!! Maybe next year... ~ Suzie |
RE: A few of my favorite things...
| | |
| I'm in NC and I love to have flowers in winter--one flower in January is worth twenty in July! My favorites for winter bloom: Helleborus foetida (stinking hellebore--but it doesn't stink!), iris unguicularis (yes, this iris does bloom in winter!), prunus mume (flowering Japanese apricot, blooms the last of January for me), and Rjinfeld's Early Sensation daffodil, which sometimes blooms for me by December 31, and in this unusual year with very mild temps in NC is blooming for me right now--and the impatiens haven't all been killed! The winter jasmines are blooming in our neighborhood also, and of course, there are always pansies. |
RE: A few of my favorite things...
| | |
I did forget one of my favorite winter flowering herbs - borage. I let it freely reseed throughout my garden. I rip it up and scatter the seeds in the spring. It has just started to re-emerge in the past few weeks. Because it forms a nice, thick mat, I do believe it is effective at keeping some of the winter weeds at bay.
Rosemary is another great winter blooming herb, though it can be quite unpredictable. I have had one bloom for the past five winters, but it bloomed late summer this year. I am anxious to see if it blooms again this winter.
Sally, I am intrigued by that iris! Will have to check into it. I do love hellebores, but am lacking shade... ~ Suzie |
RE: A few of my favorite things...
| | |
| In January to see the winter honeysuckle blooming is such a heartening sight signaling that winter will soon be over here in my part of Texas. Then when the red flowering quince begins to show its red blooms I know it is just a matter of time before the whole place will erupt in everything from dandelions on the hills to daffodils in the beds. Right now I still have some roses blooming....Duchess de Brabant is valiantly trying to pretend it isn't winter, as is Sonia. |
|
|
|
|
