Plant of the Month
IT'S JUNE, and our gardens are wrapped in winter. You’ll have finished planting winter and spring-flowering bulbs by now. Summer vegetables have been removed, and compost turned into beds, ready for the brassicas. Trim hedges - after flowering, if you have employed camellias, which are at their best during autumn. Then, weeding, feeding, watering and mulching comes next. There: it’s all tidy. Such a good feeling.
It’s also the time to think about shopping for winter-flowering plants. Although the winter garden often focuses on structure, emphasising the beauty of bare branches outlined in frost, or traced against a clear blue sky, there are plenty of species that offer colourful, scented beauty to brighten the most inhospitable of weather.
Daphne is perhaps the lead performer among the stars of winter, flowering in early August, along with the magnolias, and often under planted with deep purple or double pink-flowering hellebores. The easiest to grow, Daphne odora, is perhaps everyone’s favourite. Like all the daphnes, this species likes morning sun and perfect drainage, which is how you will find it growing in its natural habitat.
You could grow Daphne bholua if you were keen to make your own paper: the inner bark of this species, which grows naturally on mountainsides at an altitude of more than 2000 metres in the Himalayan regions, is used in hand made paper.
Many of the camellias bloom through winter and while most are not scented,
Camellia yunnanensis is a delightfully perfumed species, with white, crêpe-y flowers and a huge central boss of yellow stamens: an additional bonus of this species, native to southern
The winter flowering cherry, Prunus subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’, would be welcome in any cool climate garden: it blooms throughout winter with fragile blossom held along elegant bare branches. A spreading tree that reaches about 5 metres in height, it is tolerant of most soils.
The delicate, spider-like flowers of the witchhazel (Hamamelis spp.) bloom through winter in tones of copper, gold and yellow, illuminating the winter garden. Many are scented.
There are plenty of indigenous species that will reward you with winter flowers, providing nectar for birds and bees. The streets of Western Australian towns will soon be illuminated with the red bud mallee (Eucalyptus pachyphylla), a small tree that often grows with several trunks, contorted in the most appealing fashion. Brilliant yellow blooms through winter hang on as fruits deepen through spring to cerise.
The native sarsaparilla (Hardenbergia violacea) is a showy climber that will cope with frosts, but is happier in temperate climates, clambering over rooves and fences. Use it also as an easy-going groundcover. You’ll see it in warm climates teamed with the South American, orange-flowering Pyrostegia venusta, which can, however, become a little too much at home in tropical regions.
While some of the honeysuckles can become rampant, the winter-flowering hybrids provide great value in winter, often teaming beautifully with catkins and other winter features. The sweet smelling cream flowers of Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ will fill the garden with fragrance while you wait for the white flowers of viburnums such as V. carlessii to bloom a few weeks later.
Many deciduous trees develop brilliantly coloured or textured bark in the coldest months. Think of groves of white stemmed silver birch (Betula pendula) glowing in the late afternoon winter light. Many of the maples feature stems that deepen to vermillion during winter: Acer palmatum ‘Senkaki’ (also known as ‘Sango-kaku) is just one. The new shoots take on the deepest hues, encouraging some gardeners to coppice it into a hedge. The red barked dogwood, Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, is also employed in this way, with stunning results: cut it to the ground after you’ve enjoyed its glowing red stems in the winter border.
Now is the time to visit nurseries and gardens to search for plants to ensure your garden contains plenty to entice you outside, even when the glory of autumn leaves has past.
In February: the tough, but beautiful, frangipani:
What tree ushers in summer holidays - and hangs on into autumn? What provides shade when you need it; is a garden sculpture when bare? What flowers in a rainbow of scented colour? What ensures the excitement of the changing seasons, even if you live in a tropical climate? Is maintenance-free, water-wise, and will thrive in the face of salt winds? It is, of course, the frangipani (Plumeria spp.), named for the 17th century French botanist and explorer, Charles Plumier (1646 – 1704).
The tough but beautiful frangipani, the prehistoric-looking member of the poisonous Apocynaceae family, is a genus of just eight species, mostly deciduous and native to central America. Trees can reach up to 14 metres in height; the fragrant salver-form flowers, from 50mm to 130mm in diameter, appear in early summer at the end of somewhat bizarre, tortured, rubbery branches, and before the leathery, deeply veined mid-green leaves appear.
Frangipanis come in thousands of varieties, most derived from Plumeria rubra. The easiest to grow, and probably most common in this country, is the yellow and white P. rubra var. acutifolia.
Plumeria alba, native to the West Indies, is the largest species, with a canopy as wide as the tree is tall; the leaves grow to more than half a metre in length. Plumeria obtusa, from Cuba and Jamaica, reaches some eight metres, is evergreen, and bears very white, recurved flowers, often with pale yellow centres.
The pink to carmine flowering P. rosea has gorgeous orange to yellow centres that evoke dreams of tropical sunsets. Plumeria rubra f. rubra bears crimson flowers on a broad canopy; P. ‘Moiliili Gold’ bears large trusses of deep golden and yellow flowers, while P. ‘Peach Glow Shell’ blooms in fruit salad colours.
Also known as the temple tree, the pagoda tree or the West Indian jasmine, these treasures are very slow growing, so an established frangipani will add value to any property. They can be successfully employed in many ways in gardens large or small. They make wonderful features for courtyard gardens, creating shade in summer, but allowing in the light and warmth when bare in winter. In Hawaii they plant frangipanis in avenues, to bend artistically over a double hedge: often clipped hibiscus teamed with a lower hedge of foliage plants such as crotons, or even bromeliads. The dwarf cultivars are suited for growing in containers in cool temperate climates, where they must be taken inside for winter protection.
Frangipanis are extremely undemanding, requiring only a frost free environment, well drained soil and several hours of sun daily. In the West Indies, and in southern Mexico to the Americas, they grow naturally on hillsides in poor, but well drained, soil, in blinding sunshine. They become deciduous in a climate with a dry season; many will thrive outdoors south as far as Sydney, where they lose their leaves in early winter. In the cooler climates place frangipanis near a north facing wall that will retain warmth. Fertilize with a high potassium product.
Frangipanis are easy to propagate. Take cuttings in late spring and summer, up to half a metre in length, from branches that are not flowering. Leave in the sun for up to a week so that the cut end can dry out, forming a callus. Root in a well drained pot of sand. The milky sap that seeps from cut branches, or when leaves are removed, is poisonous, and can damage eyes and cause skin irritations, although research is being conducted into its anti-inflammatory properties.
The bare branches that display their summer costume in yellow, cream and white, pinks and reds, apricots and orange are the sight, and scent, of summer, create welcome shade and a soothing play of light and shadow over a warm climate garden. They are beautiful, and useful. You can read more about them in my latest book, The Constant Gardener.
Above: Plumeria rosea