Native Shrubs 

 for the Winter Garden 



Cheryl Lowe and Bill Cullina 



W'hy are the woods so beautiful in winter, 

 and our gardens are not?" Editor Bob 

 Parker asked nne when we were discussing 

 the focus of this article. 1 thought about his 

 question as I walked in the woods, through neighbor- 

 hoods near work and home, and through Garden in the 

 Woods. 



What makes a winter landscape special? First of all, 

 the quality of the light is different this time of year — 

 softer, quieter, highlighting textures and colors of bark 

 and leaf that are usually hidden by foliage or shade. 

 Snow also plays a major role — accentuating colors, en- 

 hancing reflections, and intensifying shadows. A covering 

 of snow will also smooth over the contours of the land- 

 scape, revealing more clearly than in summer the effects 

 of water, ice and wind. The white of the snow and the 

 low angle of the sun alters our perception of plants and 

 structures in the landscape — highlighting the red-purple 

 hues in evergreen leaves, the delicate golden strands of 

 grasses in a meadow, or the rough textures of a stone 

 wall. Consciously manipulating contours, plants, and 

 structures in our gardens can create a landscape lovely in 

 all seasons. 



Planting for winter interest is not a new subject. Much 

 has been written about the multi-colored exfoliating bark 

 of Acer griseum and Betula nigra 'Heritage', the brilliant red 

 berries of Ilex verUdllata, and the rich dark greens of pine 

 or fir. When we walk through Garden in the Woods, 

 though, we see how many more species add beauty to 

 the landscape in this season. The following shrubs are 

 not all readily available in the trade, but should be. Try 

 one or more, then let us know, so we can get the word 

 out. 



Wiburnum alnifolium, with its loose and spreading 

 form, is a shrub for all seasons. Its large round leaves 

 and graceful flower clusters emerge in the spring from 

 golden buds that decorate the twigs through the winter. 

 Those same green leaves turn red, often incorporating an 

 amazing combination of light pink, green, and white be- 

 fore dropping in November. The creamy-white blooms, in 

 a small, flat-topped cluster three-to-five inches across, 

 are fringed by five-petaled sterile flowers in IVlay much 

 like the familiar Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum. In Au- 

 gust-September, its berries ripen from brilliant red to 

 blue to black before disappearing into the mouths of 

 birds, small mammals, and knowledgeable humans. Na- 

 tive to cool, moist, but well-drained woodlands of the 

 northeast, it transplants well, but is sensitive to salt and 

 heat in landscape situations.. Hardy to Zone 3b. 



PROPAGATION: This species can be propagated by 

 seed collected from the fruits as they ripen in August. 

 The cleaned seed requires a five-to-six-month period of 

 warm stratification followed by three months of cold be- 

 fore germinating. We find that softwood cuttings taken in 

 June and treated with 2000 ppm IBA quick-dip to be the 

 fastest method Cuttings stuck directly into 2 1/2" liner 

 pots and overwintered at 40 F have survived well. As this 

 is a suckering species, it takes well to shearing as a con- 

 tainer-grown plant, and cutting-propagated material sets 

 flower buds when fairly small. 



The sweet fragrance of the Hamamelis vernalis on a 

 warm February day marks the end of winter for us. 

 Denser in form than other witchhazels, but with the same 

 zigzag pattern in the upward-spreading branches, it is 

 meant to be planted near a walkway or door so the 

 densely woolly buds and the small ribbon-like yellow-or- 



FEBRUARY ♦ MARCH 1996 



