Winter in the garden

Cheerful plants can offer respite from winter doldrums

By Rebecca Ragain

The Beaverton Valley Times, Oct 26, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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If you don’t have room for new trees or shrubs, don’t despair. Perennials can also do a nice job of spicing up the winter garden. A Heuchera with gold, lime-green or purple leaves paired with your pansies will provide color that lasts all winter.

Forbes also recommends hellebores, which are literally an award-winning group of perennials. They tolerate a wide range of conditions and offer fascinating leaf textures. Some hybrids even have colored stems for more visual punch, such as Helleborus Ivory Prince, with its burgundy-toned stems and blue-gray foliage.

“It’s a pink bud that opens to a creamy green flower. That one holds its blooms outward [not down-facing]. It’s a stunning plant and a heavy, heavy bloomer,” elaborates Forbes, referring to Ivory Prince.

Certain hellebore varieties begin blooming as early as September. Others flower through March, which means that, with careful selection, gardeners can enjoy these charming plants throughout the entire winter.

For more ideas, check out Great Plant Picks (www.greatplantpicks.org), an awards program developed by the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle. All flora chosen as Great Plant Picks have proven to be easy-to-grow (yet non-invasive), hardy in our climate and long-lived.

From the 2006 list of Great Plant Picks, for example, readers learn that Siberian cypress offers bronze winter foliage and that Bodnant viburnum displays pink flowers on bare winter branches.

The lists are grouped into categories – Perennials and Bulbs, Shrubs and Vines, and Trees and Conifers – and the database is searchable by keyword. Each plant entry includes a photograph, description and culture advice.

The Seven Dees garden centers in both Lake Oswego and Cedar Hills (503-297-1058) carry a large selection from the Great Plant Picks list, which Forbes calls “a precious resource.”

Finally, don’t forget to keep your eyes open. Make note of what plants shine in other people’s winter gardens. Ask your neighbors for the name of that delicious-smelling daphne or gorgeous heather. Stop by the nursery and look for new ideas there. Drool over the pictures in gardening magazines.

Spring will be here before you know it.

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