Winter Solstice Flowers I

 

Four vases of winter solstice flowers from (and in) the Eco-Garden

Some of the most beautiful (and scented) flowers wait until winter to share their glories with us, and they are all the more welcome for having so little other floral company. My garden does not have as many flowers by number in winter as it does in summer, but when it comes to variety it does almost as well. I went out today and picked everything that was in bloom which should have been in bloom at this time of year, and it came to four vases of delightful flowers.

In the vase pictured above are the flowers of Luculia gratissima, a rhododendron (probably 'Christmas Cheer'), pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) and Stachyurus praecox, plus the hips of Rosa 'Sparrieshoop' and the 'silver dollar' seed heads of honesty (Lunaria bienni). I am not sure about the rhodo because it came with the garden, but the fact that it looks like the photos I have seen of 'Christmas Cheer' and it is out in June (the opposite of when it would bloom in England, where it was hybridised in the nineteenth century) makes me 99% certain that this is what it is. Even if it isn't, it is a great winter-flowering shrub, providing pretty trusses of blooms for picking for over a month, when there is little else that looks so good (and big) around.  

I am also not 100% sure about the Luculia being gratissima, as it is more white than pink, but there are white and pale pink hybrids, and I think I have one of those. Mary Robertson has useful information about luculias, and to me they are one of the best flowering shrubs, both for their looks and their scent. They come from the mountain forests of Asia, from the Himalayas to Yunnan, and they don't care for frost or hot sun, but if you can provide the right spot they will cover themselves in flowers.

  

Pineapple sage is also a mountain plant, but from the mountains of Mexico. It flowers when the days start to shorten, and if not cut down by frost it will flower through winter and into spring. The flowers are small, but a very bright red, and they are prolific on the tall (up to two metre) stems of the plant, so pineapple sage provides an easy-to-grow highlight in the winter garden - great for growing among shrubs.

Stachyurus praecox is a shrub from Japan, which covers itself in pale yellow-green flowers that droop gracefully. I didn't think such small flowers would provide much tucker for native birds at this hungry time of year, but I have seen bellbirds sipping on them, so perhaps they do. 

The vase above has the droopy purple flowers of the winter rose (Helleborus orientalis), the stiff pinky-purple brush-like flowers of a hebe (I have no idea which one – it self-sowed), the red flowers of Chaenomeles japonica, bright yellow pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) flowers, the white flowers and metallic blue berries of lauristinus (Vibrunum tinus), and the hips of Rosa 'Sea Foam'. 

 

Lauristinus is one of my favourite winter shrubs because it has so many flower and berry colours to tone with its evergreen leaves. The white flowers are backed with red, when the petals drop the baby berries are red, and then when fully-grown they are that very unusual blue. Japonica and hellebores are true winter flowers which last on into spring, but the calendula makes it just by being able to flower in every month of the year. That's the origin of its name, from the Latin kalendae, meaning the first day of the month. You can be pretty sure to find a pot marigold in bloom on the first day of most months. Just as well too, since the petals have many culinary and medicinal uses.

More winter solstice flowers tomorrow...