Geoff Hodge made a welcomed return to our club this month with his talk Beating the Winter Blues. A very informative evening explaining how we can bring colour and interest to our gardens in winter. Over five years of research has proved that being able to retreat to a garden all year can help our mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n
Planning our planting is a key point and not randomly buying plants with no idea of where to put them. A plant will not thrive in the wrong position, too sunny, too shady or wrong type of soil. They will sulk and not thrive.<\/p>\n
Design the garden so that the interest can be visible from inside the home. Evergreens are a great way to avoid that \u201cbrown\u201d look of the garden in the winter months. There are many varieties of conifer with differing colour and form.<\/p>\n
Suggested plants-<\/p>\n
Ceanothus Zanzibar has a variegated leaf.<\/p>\n
Silver leafed plants such as Lamium Maculatum White Nancy has a silver blotched foliage and prefers partial shade. Great ground cover.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pieris , a plant of many varieties, has all year interest.<\/p>\n
Witch Hazel Jermyns Gold has a deep yellow flower with a good scent. Mulch well.<\/p>\n
Daphne . The earliest flowering variety Darjeeling. They do not thrive in dry conditions preferring some shade.<\/p>\n
Mahonia. Make a bold show of yellow flowers which the bees love, then the berries follow which the blackbirds enjoy. Adding pots with colour to the patio.<\/p>\n
We certainly don\u2019t have to look out in mid-winter and think everywhere looks dreary there are plenty of shrubs and flowers to brighten the garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Geoff Hodge made a welcomed return to our club this month with his talk Beating the Winter Blues. A very informative evening explaining how we can bring colour and interest to our gardens in winter. Over five years of research … Continue reading