Zone 8a - shrubs for winter interest?

[Laura Corin]

According to this map, we are 8a in US terms.  I have a bed about four feet deep and maybe twenty feet long against the house that I want to plant for winter interest.  It's right by the porch, so scent would be good too.  Some of the shrubs can be up to about eight feet tall, but others need to be under the windows, so three or four feet tall.  The bed is east facing, so protected from the prevailing SW wind by the house, but is exposed to intermittent cold east and north winds.

 

Any ideas?  The soil pH is neutral, the soil is clay but well drained (I grow lavenders, etc, with no problem), it's a pretty damp climate and the light levels in winter are low (daylight from nine to four).

 

I've been looking through my guide to plants for Scotland, but I'm not feeling inspired.  Shrubs only please - I want to mulch the area and keep it fairly easy to maintain.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[Sun]

Witch hazel, camellias, daphne, sarcocca are a few that spring to mind. All of the above except for the camellias are fragrant winter-bloomers. They all grow well in Seattle, which also has low light levels in winter. Daphne has been the trickiest for me to grow, but the daphne odora varietal has such an incomparably lovely fragrance that I find it worth replacing when it succumbs to too much wet, clay soil. It supposedly like well-drained soil, but it will survive for several years when I plant it in a mound. Sarcocca has very subtle flowers but they have a lovely, light fragrance. It blooms approximately December-February. Certain varieties of camellia will bloom in winter, though the blossoms of the double varieties are particularly susceptible to blight. I think the single varieties are hardier from that perspective and tend to bloom earlier. One that we've had was called something like Christmas because that's the time of year it bloomed. Witch hazel is the only one that I mentioned that is not evergreen, but its lovely fragrance and early blossoms make it worth having, in my opinion. It will bloom on milder days starting at least in early January, possibly December.

[Eagle]

Arbutus unedo gets large decorative berries in winter. We had one at our last place and people always thought we decorated it for Christmas. (make sure to get the smaller variety)

 

You can get a few varieties of dogwood in shrub form (they also come as trees, so make sure to check!). They are deciduous, but the stalks are brilliant red, pink, or yellow depending on the variety so they provide a lot of winter interest.

[Sun]

Beautyberry (callicarpa) is another plant that is interesting in winter. It gets very striking purple berries that are quite unusual.

 

[gardenmom5]

I'm in 8a.

 

here is a list of 10.

 

I'm particularly partial to daphne odora - it smells heavenly.

 

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1870/

 

we've also had camellias that will bloom in winter. 

 

last winter - I had several rhododendrons blooming. It was  . . . . weird.  they normally bloom in april/may.

 

 

oh - and also consider conifer cultivars.  the royal dutch horticultural society put out a two volume fabulous encyclopedia of conifers.  there are cultivars that have been taken from witches brooms, and in 50 years, dont' get more than 4' tall.

birds nest spruce (picea abies birds nest)  is a common one, but one of my favorites is abies koreana icebreaker - it's very striking.  (and small)

 

[Laura Corin]

Witch hazel, camellias, daphne, sarcocca are a few that spring to mind. All of the above except for the camellias are fragrant winter-bloomers. They all grow well in Seattle, which also has low light levels in winter. Daphne has been the trickiest for me to grow, but the daphne odora varietal has such an incomparably lovely fragrance that I find it worth replacing when it succumbs to too much wet, clay soil. It supposedly like well-drained soil, but it will survive for several years when I plant it in a mound. Sarcocca has very subtle flowers but they have a lovely, light fragrance. It blooms approximately December-February. Certain varieties of camellia will bloom in winter, though the blossoms of the double varieties are particularly susceptible to blight. I think the single varieties are hardier from that perspective and tend to bloom earlier. One that we've had was called something like Christmas because that's the time of year it bloomed. Witch hazel is the only one that I mentioned that is not evergreen, but its lovely fragrance and early blossoms make it worth having, in my opinion. It will bloom on milder days starting at least in early January, possibly December.

 

I'm definitely going for the witch hazel and the daphne.  I have sarcococca in another bed, but it barely flowers - it's been in there for four or five years, so maybe I just got a dud.  I'll have a look at other varieties.  I've been warned off camellia because the bed is east facing, so there's the risk of early sun defrosting buds too fast and leading to loss of all the blooms.  Our winters can be quite sunny (except when they are not!)

 

Arbutus unedo gets large decorative berries in winter. We had one at our last place and people always thought we decorated it for Christmas. (make sure to get the smaller variety)

 

You can get a few varieties of dogwood in shrub form (they also come as trees, so make sure to check!). They are deciduous, but the stalks are brilliant red, pink, or yellow depending on the variety so they provide a lot of winter interest.

 

I'll look into Arbutus.  I have a large selection of dogwoods on the other side of the entrance, so I think I have enough for now!

 

Beautyberry (callicarpa) is another plant that is interesting in winter. It gets very striking purple berries that are quite unusual.

 

Thanks - I'll look into it.

 

I'm in 8a.

 

here is a list of 10.

 

I'm particularly partial to daphne odora - it smells heavenly.

 

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1870/

 

we've also had camellias that will bloom in winter. 

 

last winter - I had several rhododendrons blooming. It was  . . . . weird.  they normally bloom in april/may.

 

 

oh - and also consider conifer cultivars.  the royal dutch horticultural society put out a two volume fabulous encyclopedia of conifers.  there are cultivars that have been taken from witches brooms, and in 50 years, dont' get more than 4' tall.

birds nest spruce (picea abies birds nest)  is a common one, but one of my favorites is abies koreana icebreaker - it's very striking.  (and small)

 

Thanks - I'll look into those.

 

Laura

[Audrey]

According to this map, we are 8a in US terms.  I have a bed about four feet deep and maybe twenty feet long against the house that I want to plant for winter interest.  It's right by the porch, so scent would be good too.  Some of the shrubs can be up to about eight feet tall, but others need to be under the windows, so three or four feet tall.  The bed is east facing, so protected from the prevailing SW wind by the house, but is exposed to intermittent cold east and north winds.

 

Any ideas?  The soil pH is neutral, the soil is clay but well drained (I grow lavenders, etc, with no problem), it's a pretty damp climate and the light levels in winter are low (daylight from nine to four).

 

I've been looking through my guide to plants for Scotland, but I'm not feeling inspired.  Shrubs only please - I want to mulch the area and keep it fairly easy to maintain.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

 

I am partial to flowering dogwoods.  They can be pruned back easily or let to go larger into a hedge if one desires.  Their winter interest is that they produce a mass of branches which are deep red in winter.  I find it lovely to see in all the snow.  I'm in a zone 4, though I see ranges on dogwoods for zone 4 up to zone 9.