Plants that look good in winter: Part I

It's taken me a while, but after many years of gardening I've finally come around to the utility of putting in evergreen plants. I had the occasional Rhodie and Camellia, but leaned heavily towards deciduous shrubs with pretty flowers. So for all of winter and most of spring, my yard is full of brown. Since I live in close-packed neighborhood with lots of foot traffic, I really miss the privacy summer gives me. I've worked in a nursery for years and have largely ignored the evergreens, but now they've taken on new value for me. These are some of my favorites:


 Skimmias: Evergreen shade plants that come in male and female. Be very careful when you buy these that you get at least one of each or you won't get the fragrant and beautiful male flowers or the pretty red berries on the female. Beware of buying any skimmia that isn't labeled male or female; unless you have a practiced eye, at certain times of the year, like summer, you won't be able to tell the difference. These plants can take a little morning sun but if you put them in a sunny spot, they'll let you know they're unhappy by getting pale yellow leaves. 
     For a great bargain on these plants, check out Home Depot. From time to time they sell 2 gal. skimmia plants for $2.50 each. They would be at least $10 - $15 for that size at a nursery. Even though I work in a nursery, sometimes  even an employee discount can't beat Home Depot prices. For a lot of generic plants, they're okay. If you want a certain variety, you have to go searching. I'll talk more about this in later posts. 

Sarcococca - Another evergreen shade plant that comes in two sizes: one is the short guy, Sarcococca humilus which only gets 12" - 18" tall and spreads to 5 ft. if you let it. The other is Sarcococca ruscifolia, which gets much larger - 4' x 4' and has larger leaves. 


Both have fragrant, vanilla white flowers that smell great from late January until maybe March. From then on all you get is green, but even a bad winter can't dent its looks. It's classically put right by the front door so you can smell the sweet fragrance as you enter and exit. 

Nandina - There are many, many different varieties of nandina. It's commonly called Heavenly Bamboo, but is a member of the Barberry family. It just has a beautiful Asian look to it and is native to China and Japan. My absolute favorite is Sienna Sunrise, which is a 4' x 4' plant at maturity. It's a fairly fast grower, likes full or part sun, and isn't prone to any diseases. You can put it in a shady spot and it will do fine, but you won't get the beautiful coloration which is orange, red and purple all year. Most Nandinas only put on notable color in the fall, but this one is colorful all year. 
     
The older versions of nandina are very leggy and unless you like the look, you'll have to pay top dollar for the unleggy varieties. This is not a cheap plant: they rarely go on sale and a 2 gal. container of Sunrise, Moon Bay or Gulfstream, other great varieties that don't get leggy, will cost about $32. Since they look really great in groups, they can really be expensive. 
    
 There are several shorter versions  that are low clumping shrubs to only about 18" tall: Harbor Dwarf, Harbor Belle, and Firepower are the most common dwarfs. Firepower is intensely red in the fall only, and it's leaves are kind of fat and puffy, unlike the other varieties. Because of it's hardiness, beauty, etc. it's become one of the most overused plants in commercial landscaping, along with Goldflame spirea, heather and arbor vitae. I don't care; I still love it.

     Check out what happens if you buy one of the older cultivars. If the tag says Nandina domestica, this could be what you'll get in ten years. Marianne Binetti said if you cut your nandina down to the ground it would take care of the legginess, so I tried that. My nandina, which was Plum Passion, just grew back leggy again. So if you don't mind the leggy look, you can find cheaper nandinas. If you want unleggy, you have to go with Sienna Sunrise, Moon Bay or Gulfstream. The short nandinas don't have this problem.     

Moving on, my next choice(s) for evergreen landscape plants are members of the Ilex or Holly family. This is a big and diverse family in which some of the members have holly-like leaves, but many do not. There is Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' which grows to 8' slowly, very slowly but is a great vertical plant. The Sky Pencil in this photo is flanked by Skimmia and Sarcococca plants.

Then for hedges or accent plants, there are Ilex crenata Convexa and Ilex crenata Helleri. Great Plant Picks say "they are an elegant backdrop to the flower garden or provide strong form in architectural gardens." All you get is green; no flowers, no fragrance. But just because it's elegant, it still has a place in an ordinary northwest landscape. Colorful nandinas would look great accenting the elegant Ilex, also tall grasses like Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'. 

Lastly, this isn't an evergreen, but Japanese maples look so gorgeous decorated with holiday lights that I had to include them.