It's February. Garden shows are popping up all over the country and nurseries are beginning to get stock of bareroot roses, fruit trees, and potted bulbs. Looking out the window from your cozy living room you wonder "When is Spring going to arrive?" Here's the 411, you don't have to wait for Spring anymore to enjoy colorful and fragrant flowers in your garden!
My all-time favorite winter blooming plant is the evergreen and fragrant Sarcococca. The two forms I use are the humilis, a low growing (up to 1' high) ground cover type and the larger confusa (black berries) or ruscifolia (red berries) which are a compact bush up to 3' tall and make an excellent short hedge. In my garden I have planted the S. humilis under the stairs to my front door where the heady scent greets those coming and going. I have made a hedge of C. ruscifolia under the drip line of my back deck to obscure the area under the deck. Every time I go out to gather eggs from mid-February through March I am greeted with the scent of spring!
Erica carnea 'Myretoun Ruby' starts blooming in February and continues for months! I love the dark fushia flowers against the blue-green foliage. Heaths and heathers are low maintenance garden work horses. There is one for every landscape situation. Heaths and Heathers Nursery is my favorite resource.
For more blooms try helleborus. You may have heard them called the Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose. The bloom bearing stems rise out of the ground naked (if you've cut back the old leaves) and as the the season progresses new leaves begin to rise from the base of the plant. Old varieties have nodding blossoms but many new varieties hold their blooms face up toward the sky. Take a look at Northwest Garden Nursery for great pictures and descriptions.
A fabulously fragrant bush is Daphne odora commonly known as winter daphne (shown in above picture). This one is 'aureomarginata' having variegated leaves. Winter daphne will start to bloom in March here in the Pacific Northwest just when the sarcococca's scent is fading. This is another bush to plant near the front door where visitors pass by frequently and are able to enjoy the heady scent when Spring has yet to do its springing.
Grevillia victoriae 'Murray Queen' is an outstanding bush with a tropical appearance bearing racemes of orange trumpet flowers. The bonus is that hummingbirds love it! Beginning to bloom in Autumn it continues on through the Winter months and into Spring in zone 7.
Witch Hazel (Hammamelis) is a small to medium tree that would compliment a planting of Grevillia victoriae 'Murray Queen'
Witch Hazels come in a variety of yellow and oranges and begin to bloom in February. Their scent is spicy sweet so plant it where you can catch a whiff. Witch Hazel Nursery has a wonderful photo library.
Bearing bouquets of sweetly scented white, yellow or orange trumpets Edgworthia chrysantha or Paper Bush blooms before sending its lovely leaves to catch the sun's rays. Again, this is a wonderful "front door" bush with its compact habit and colorful flowers brightening the grey winter skies. What better way to say "Welcome" to your visitors?
Are you inspired? Make a trip to your local nursery to see these plants and more close-up and personal. Don't have a garden near the front door? Many of these plants are adaptable to large pots and will add a year-long display mixed with seasonal annuals or other well chosen perennials. Need help making the right choice for you, your lifestyle and your landscape? Send me an email, I'd love to help!
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