Two More Winter Bloomers

Two More Winter Bloomers

I have been keeping my eyes open for flowers and in addition to the Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) that was featured here recently I found my Winter Jasmine and Chinese Witch Hazel blooming. My hat goes off to these plants, which despite the cold temperatures and biting winds have come out to add a little color to the winter landscape.

Weeping Winter Jasmine
Jasminum nudiflorum
(JAZ-mih-num) (noo-dee-FLOR-um)
Synonym: Jasminum sieboldianum

This is an interesting and underused shrub that brings some winter interest to the garden. This one only had a few flowers right now but later in the winter and with the help of a few mild days it will be in full bloom. It can be effective cascading over stonewalls or on sloped banks. While it is rated for USDA Zone 6 I think it does better in Zone 7. If you are planting it in Zone 6 try and chose a warm sheltered location for it.

Following its species name, nudiflorum, its flowers emerge before the foliage. The leaves themselves are small and not very showy. Even with some sporadic flowering later in the year this shrub tends to fade in the background but it emerges very bright right when you need that the most. This Western China native can be difficult to buy, it isn’t offered that often, but is definitely worth the hunt for the medium and larger garden.

Chinese Witch Hazel
Hamamelis mollis ‘Pallida’
(ham-uh-MEE-lis) (MAW-liss)

There seems to be a little cloudiness in regards to the naming of this plant. It seems a lot of people also call it Hamamelis x intermedia 'Pallida' and you can find it listed under that name also. I am going to let the botanists fight that one out. When I first starting growing this Witch Hazel I was less than enchanted with this one but over the years this shrub has proved to be a reliable bloomer and a good garden citizen. It doesn’t take much upkeep (a great benefit in my mind) other than cutting the occasional sucker from under the graft I also top mine since I don’t really want to have it grow to the full height of 15 feet. Sometimes the dead leaves hang on through the winter and they should be removed to see the full glory of the flowers. ‘Pallida’ is superior to the species mainly because of the heavier flowering. Plant it with an eye towards it being a large shrub but also keep in mind you will want to enjoy the flowers and fragrance up close.

This plant was first collected in China around 1870 and ‘Pallida’ was first cataloged by the RHS in the 30’s. It likes well-drained soil that has organic matter in it. It can benefit from a yearly dressing of leaf-mold compost.

Fragrant Wintersweet Tree

Fragrant Wintersweet Tree
Chimonanthus praecox
(ky-moh-NAN-thus) (pray-koks)
Calycanthaceae

Thinking I would enjoy the last day of moderate weather I went down to Wave Hill Gardens in the Bronx. What a wonderful winter walk I had around the gardens. I found this plant, Chimonanthus praecox, in full bloom. It didn’t look like a sporadic bloom but it was doing what it did every year at this time. Its translucent yellow flowers were highly fragrant and in various stages of blooming. I can’t really report what it is like to have this plant in the garden but after looking it up I will have to give it a chance. I found out it hardy to USDA Zone 6 and grows to 12 to 15 feet tall. It was planted in a protected location at Wave Hill and I will probably do the same with mine. The only negative thing my research turned up is that it can sometimes take several years to bloom. Since I have learned that you really need to have patience in the garden that wouldn’t really bother me.


I will be featuring some of the plants that I saw at the gardens this week. This was a particularly pleasing combination of Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata), Inkberry (Ilex glabra) and although you can’t see it here a low-growing gray Juniper. Winterberry has been featured on this blog before and if you want more information on it click the label for this post. This was the species, which has slightly smaller berries that are spaced a little further apart than most of the cultivars. The species can be variable though.


Yesterday I also went to get shoes. Not that remarkable for most people but when you wear size 16 EE it is always an adventure and sometimes a nightmare. I had heard of a shoe store that was carrying sizes like that and I walked in and quickly scored three pairs at 30% off. Oh happy joy! If I could find a clothing store like that I would be really happy.


Thankfully the snowstorm only dropped 4 inches instead of the forecast 15. The weatherman can be wrong like that every time as far as I am concerned.

ABC Wednesday - Y is for Yellowtwig Dogwood

Yellowtwig Dogwood
Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'
(KOR-nus) (ser-IK-ee-uh)
Synonyms: Yellowstem Dogwood, Golden Twig Dogwood

If you are here for Wordless Wednesday please scroll down to the next post.

When I took these pictures about a month ago I thought that it would be a good ‘Y’ post. Yellowtwig Dogwood is a favorite winter plant of mine. I love to see it in masses and I often plant it with Redtwig Dogwood. It looks good in leaf and the summer flowers give way to white berries but the real show is the winter color of the twigs. They do take a little bit of managing as only the younger twigs show the best color so you have to remember to prune them during the spring. They can also get quite large if left to their own devices. I have seen them up to 10 feet tall and like to keep mine at about 6 feet.


Yellowtwig is hardy done to -45.5 °C (-50 °F)! It also tolerates moist and even wet conditions. It is not fussy as to soil and propagation is easily done by layering some of the sucker branches (you can do it by cuttings, also). It is a nice plant and can be used singly in the small garden but as I said I much prefer it in large masses. There is one cultivar that I am familiar with its called ‘Budd’s Yellow’ and does seem to be a little brighter and heavier branched than the species. There is also a slower, smaller growing variegated cultivar, which I think is called ‘Silver and Gold’.

Here is a link to Wikipedia with everything you want to know about Yellow .


One thing I learned is that yellow’s complimentary color is indigo. It has taken awhile but I have really begun to love yellow in the garden, both with flowers and foliage. A quick search for ‘yellow’ in image titles on my hard drives yielded 339 items. Many have been posted on this blog before but here is a real yellow Plumeria flower that I took on the quiet end of Duval Street in Key West, Florida.


Another bright yellow flower from the archives. This is Witch Hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise') and it often blooms in late January or early February here in Connecticut. The flowers are very fragrant and come in a couple of different colors. Witch Hazel can turn into a large shrub and is nice planted with several together.


Here is the ABC Wednesday Blogroll:

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
Secluded Habitat
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Oswegan
Watch me, No Watch me
Peter Miller
Lynette
Andrea’s Thought of the Day
Photowannabe
RuneE’s Visual Norway
Happy One
Jim Baker Photography
Azure
HPY
cre8tiva
imac from the mind’s eye
NYCindividual
Lilli and Nevada
Bonnie
Outhouse of Canada

Buttercup Winterhazel (Corylopsis pauciflora)

Buttercup Winterhazel
Corylopsis pauciflora
(kor-uh-LOP-sis) (PAW-ki-flor-uh)
Hamamelidaceae

Now is the time of the year that the Winter Hazel become a standout in the garden. It is one of the few things blooming around here. I have tried it a few times and met with less than success but I still enjoy seeing it, I may try again because its failure was probably my fault. Sometimes if a plant doesn’t work out I never try it again and that is not the best way to approach it. I think I end up missing out on some plants because I am wary of the results. This plant is a star performer early in the spring and then it fades into the background. It has a graceful shape that shouldn’t really pruned because then it starts growing at odd angles. Since it is such an early bloomer planting it in a sheltered location is probably a wise course of action. It can tolerate a light shade and looks good on the edge of the woods. I have seen it planted in masses and as a single specimen, both with good results. The drooping yellow flowers are fragrant. There are several other species that grow in the garden. In general I think you find this plant hard to locate and as I remember mine came from a mail-order catalog. Please don’t be turned off by my experiences it is a lovely shrub that is a great addition to the early spring garden.



This is almost a good picture but not quite. I am still trying to figure out exactly what I did to make the flower stand out in an abstract way. This is a shot that would have benefited from a tripod.

February Daphne (Daphne mezereum 'Alba')

February Daphne
Daphne mezereum 'Alba'
(DAF-nee)
Thymelaeaceae

It’s hard to believe a plant that looks this nice and benign could be so toxic. I am glad I didn’t brush up against while photographing it. I have always thought that Daphnes as kind of weak growing but wonderful looking plant. This one was blooming last week despite the crummy weather we have been having. I know sometimes I forget what the weather was like in each month over the years but it seems like this is one of the worst Aprils I have experienced around here in a long time. It seems to me that looking back over the weather averages is not very helpful as April could finish very warm and would appear to be average when it has been cold. The forecast for Connecticut isn’t looking up much as they are forecasting subfreezing temperatures at night and highs only in the low 40s (F). I have probably said this before but for a multitude of reason I am desperate for spring to arrive in its usual way. I saw a Cherry Tree out in bloom where I was working in Darien yesterday. It was in the house next doors yard and it took everything I had not to scale the fence and try and take a picture of it. It looked like an Okame Cherry, which is one of my favorites. There was not one thing blooming in the yard I was working in.

This plant is a native of Europe and the white form is not as common as the pink one. This one gets yellow berries, which again are highly toxic although I have seen the birds eating them. It has the vague appearance of a Spirea and is more upright then the more traditional Daphnes that I grow. If you are going to try this one it prefers moist alkaline soil on the edge of the woods. It can grow in light shade or full sun. Once sited it is best to leave it alone as it resents root disturbance. It’s flowers are highly fragrant This particular plant is about 3.5 feet tall and 4 feet wide after about ten years.

Synonyms: Winter Daphne, Fragrant Daphne



Since there is not much to shoot outdoors I took an abstract of the glass vase that is holding some Forsythia that forced. I am going to be doing some correcting on some old posts later today I have to figure out a way to do that clandestinely. My grammar and punctuation is terrible.

Oriental Paper Bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha)

Oriental Paper Bush
Edgeworthia chrysantha
(edj-WOR-thee-uh) (pap-ih-RIFF-er-uh)

This shrub was growing in the Ladies Border at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx and I took this picture last year. You can always get a couple of good pictures of some unusual plants in the Ladies Border. The Bearded Iris collection is there also. It must be a sheltered location as most sources say that this shrub is hardy to USDA Zone 8 and I think the NYBG, in general, is Zone 7. There are a few other plants in the border that I generally wouldn’t consider hardy in NYC. I visited the Ladies Border when I went down to the garden to see the New York City Orchid Show a couple of weeks ago and the Paper Bush looked like it had tried to bloom in January and had been frosted back. Last spring it was blooming beautifully and is a very nice shade of yellow. This shrub belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family which I wasn’t familiar with but includes the Daphnes. The plant gets about 6 feet tall, blooms very early and has fragrant flowers. There is also an orangey red form known as ‘Red Dragon’. Plants should be sited in full sun or light shade and it makes a good edge of the woodland plant. It should be permanently sited, as it does not like being disturbed after planting. The bark is used to make high-grade paper that is used for banknotes and other uses.

Today was a little colder and very windy out in the garden but it didn’t dampen my spirits. I continued cleaning and observing the big garden that I take care of. I am noticing a bit more winter damage than I had initially saw.



Synonyms: Edgeworthia papyrifera, Edgeworthia tomentosa