Best Trees for Winter Colours
Winter. That cold period of desolate days, where the frost creeps eerily across the landscape every night and mornings are spent rubbing your hands together, muttering ‘it’s a bit fresh’ while simultaneously admiring how much ‘smoke’ comes out of your mouth.
Yet it doesn’t have to be like this. Because Winter can be a beautiful time for the garden, full of life and colour. Get it right and you could be muttering ‘oh my - would you look at that, how wonderful’... By the way, Winter is the best season for planting. With that in mind, we give you our Top 5 Winter Interest Trees.
Top 5 Winter Interest Trees:
1. VIBURNUM tinus ‘Lucidum’ - Evergreen shrub
2. CAMELLIA ‘Fairy Blush’ - Pink Flowering Camellia
3. GARRYA elliptica ‘James Roof’ - Silk Tassel Tree
4. ILEX altaclerensis ‘Hendersonii’ - Smooth Leaf Holly
5. ACER palmatum ‘Senkaki’ – Coral Bark Maple
1. VIBURNUM tinus ‘Lucidum’ - Evergreen shrub
A pretty little shrub with dark, oval shaped glossy leaves that remind you of the vitality of Summer. It has fragrant pinkish-white flowers that attract bees, whilst the berries produced feed the local birdlife, as colour and vitality is added to an Autumn setting. The flowers last through Autumn and into the beginnings of Winter.
- Suitable for screening and hedging.
- Can be clipped into a low tight hedge
- Evergreen, grows to 5x3m
Photo: VIBURNUM tinus Lucidum - Evergreen shrub in 12Lt container, 1+m height, 3-4 years old.
2. CAMELLIA 'Fairy Blush' - Pink Flowering Camellia
Delightful small pink flowers emerge, a redolent reminder of nature’s enduring quality and a velvety contrast to the sharpness of Jack Frost’s harsh impact. As the buds open, they turn white and provide a velvety aesthetic to soften the harsh edges of Winter. Leaves are leathery and ovate, creating a contrasting backdrop for that delicious Winter colour.
- Suitable for formal hedging, courtyards and small gardens
- Evergreen, grows to 2x1m
Photo: CAMELLIA Fairy Blush - Pink Flowering Camellia in 25-35Lt container, 1.5m height, 5-6 years old.
3. GARRYA elliptica ‘James Roof’ - Silk Tassel Tree
Large leathery foliage of deep greens but softened edge to the looks, with unusually long-tassel flowers of up to 22 cm in length. In the northern hemisphere houses are often decorated during Winter with Christmas decorations that resemble the flowers that emerge on this tree in Winter. It’s really quite magical.
- Suitable for architectural and feature planting
- Evergreen, grows to 2.5x2m
Photo: GARRYA elliptica 'James Roof' - Silk Tassel Tree in 35Lt container, 2m height, 7 years old.
4. ILEX altaclerensis ‘Hendersonii’ - Smooth Leaf Holly
It’s the glossy dark-green leaves. They reflect and twinkle in Winter mornings, reflecting the weak rays of the sun that might not be physically warming but are perfectly capable of warming the soul. Small, white flowers herald the beginning of Spring but will wilt and give way to clusters of bright red berries in Autumn.
- Suitable for topiary, formal and feature planting, hedging and screening
- Evergreen, grows to 4x2m
Photo: ILEX altaclerensis Hendersonii - Smooth Leaf Holly in 35Lt container, 2m height, 6 years old.
5. ACER palmatum 'Senkaki' - Coral Bark Maple
Famed for it’s coral pink-red stems. This is one of those rare trees whose Winter show is arguably its best. Devoid of the green leaves of Summer, which changed to golden yellow in Winter before dropping, the unobstructed view of the bare branches create a welcome wintery focal point. It’s a wonderful contrast against top dull and grey skies and a reminder of how colorful the world can be.
- Suitable for home gardens and feature plantings
- Deciduous, grows to 4 x 2.5m
Photo: ACER palmatum 'Senkaki' - Coral Bark Maple in 25Lt container, 2.2m height, 5+ years old.
