By Lisa Albert, Sunset guest blogger
Anyone can have a great summer garden in the Pacific Northwest. Creating a fabulous winter garden, on the other hand, well, that takes some effort. But it's well worth it.
My admiration for the garden in winter began more than a decade ago when I read Dan Hinkley’s Winter Ornamentals: For the Maritime Northwest Gardener (now out of print, unfortunately). Within its pages, I discovered delectable plants to brighten gray days, including a few with tongue-twisting names, such as Stachyurus praecox and Abeliophyllum distichum (white forsythia). I don’t have space for all the plants Hinkley made me crave, but I have made room for some of them. My garden is the richer for it, not just in winter but throughout the year.
The show starts in October with the clean white blooms of Camellia sasanqua `Setsugekka' (pictured below) near my front door. This year’s unexpected ice and snow cut its display short, but generally it will continue to bloom until late January or early February.
About the same time, a heady aroma wafts from my Goshiki false holly (Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Goshiki’. It doesn’t flower when young – I think mine were at least 6 years old before they bloomed – but its stunning foliage more than makes up for their tardy appearance.
Hellebores have been all the rage for several years now and with good reason. I love these sturdy, easy to grow, evergreen perennials for their winter flowers in white, pink, peach, deep purple, green and now yellow. The flowers of the new hybrids come in amazing variations including doubles so it’s best to buy them in bloom.
Sweet box (Sarcocca confusa) is another favorite. I love to watch visitors approach my front door at this time of year. Their purposeful march slows as they try to find the source of the sweet fragrance that teases their noses. They're always surprised to learn it comes from this shrub's insignificant flowers.
Now is the the time to shop for these and other winter interest plants at your local nurseries, but be prepared for temptation. On a recent garden center jaunt, I couldn’t resist the crisp fragrance and golden yellow starburst flowers of an ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel (Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’.
For more great choices for the winter garden, see this article in The Oregonian. And this one on the Rainyside Gardeners website.
