Create Blooming Winter Gardens

Many gardens can look drab and dreary in winter. With a little planning and careful selection of winter garden climbers, gardens can be made to be as colorful in winter as in the rest of the year. Winter blooms and winter garden climbers can add color to brighten the garden and cover to hide any unsightly walls.

Weeping Winter Jasmine

One of the best plants to color winter gardens is the Weeping Winter Jasmine which flowers, in the Northern Hemisphere, from November to March. This plant will happily cover any dull wall with bright yellow winter flowers which will last well into April and is at its best when it is coaxed along trailing wires secured to the wall. It can also suit other places such as tumbling over low stone walls or flowing down steep inaccessible slopes. It is easy to maintain and little pruning is required. So plant it, secure it and every once in a while check it. Then forget about it.

Clematis

Another valuable plant for a wall or pergola is Clematis which are found throughout the temperate regions of both hemispheres, and also in mountains in the tropics. With the Evergreen Winter Clematis there are a variety of colors available for winter blooms; white, pink, apple blossom and the very attractive Clematis Cirrhosa Freckles. When planting clematis avoid a windy site. Even though the stems can grow to be formidable the early new shoots can be easily blown and broken. Secure the plant to a trellis or once again along trailing wires and prune as seen fit. Light pruning to keep the vigorous stems in check can be done at any time but avoid pruning prior to flowering. The winter clematis will give splendid color from November to April. Remember both of these shrubs can be trained along the same trellis or wires. The pruning requirements for both are similar and their stems will happily embrace each other along the way.

Honeysuckle

Honeysuckles (Lonicera; Caprifolium.) are arching shrubs or twining vines in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. Winter Honeysuckle with its scented blooms will enhance any garden and Lonicera Fragrantissima will bloom from Christmas until the end of March. This plant needs space to be spectacular and looks great in a natural setting such as places at the back of a shrubbery or along a ditch. An added attraction is its abundance of red berries produced after flowering; the birds love them and will come to feast in the garden every day. The flowers of this honeysuckle are petite and white and exude a lemony scent. Pruning honeysuckle is only necessary to keep this vigorous climber in check, however it can be pruned quite sternly and still produce an abundance of flowers the same year to enchant any passer-by with their distinctive aroma. Honeysuckles can make a good hedge rewarding both the gardener and the birds. And of course not to be forgotten – honeysuckle is a perfect cut flower for indoor decoration.

Hedera Ivy

A range of plants for winter cover not to be surpassed is Hedera helix Ivies also called Ivy, Common Ivy, or English Ivy and is a species of ivy native to most of Europe and southwest Asia

These plants have year round appeal and are available in different colors, leaf size and shape. Plant a selection to have more interest in the same area. Hedera helix Buttercup is gold, H. Glacier is grayish green with white edges, H. Goldchild is variegated with bright gold. Most garden centers will have a large selection in stock. Hedera are aggressive climbing plants so it is important to keep them in check from an early stage.

If it is not possible to have direct planting remember climbers will do very nicely in containers, especially the Hedera mentioned above. Select as big a container as possible. Use top quality compost and with proper care, regular watering and feeding they will thrive and in no time unsightly walls will be transformed.

For both winter flowers and great cover and with minimum maintenance, climbing plants can make winter gardens bloom. For more color, gardeners should also look at colorful shrubs for winter gardens.