Another tree that is becoming increasingly recognised for its landscaping value is the ornamental pear (Pyrus aristocrat).
This tree has spectacular white spring blossom, offers refreshing summer shade and then good autumn colour tonings.
In another week we will be officially into winter and the shortest day is only a few weeks later than that on June 21.
This is a good time of the year to add some more winter flowering plants for colour.
One of the most prolific flowering plants is the bold, bright, colourful cyclamen.
They are a very popular colour plant to grow during the winter months.
They start throwing flower buds as the weather cools in March and continue in mass profusion into September.
As a result of selective breeding, a range of cyclamen varieties are available.
In addition to the bold, bright, single colours of red, violet, white and many shades of pink, there are some with frilled flowers and butterfly double-type flowers as well as variation in leaf marbling.
Cyclamen can be generalised into two main sizes: the miniature or smaller type and the larger-flowered and -leaved type.
Cyclamen are a bulb, although they are most commonly available as a potted plant.
They die down and go into dormancy during the hot summer months, emerging into growth as the cooler, damper autumn weather arrives.
As a winter dweller, they do not need a lot of sun and are very happy in shady positions with little or no direct sunlight.
They are very versatile for use in the home garden situation.
Cyclamen do best in a well-drained situation. If the soil becomes saturated, the bulb can be prone to rot.
Wet soil combined with lack of air movement can also cause botrytis.
Cyclamen will grow outdoors in the garden or in pots. They are also regularly used indoors as flowering houseplants and then planted outside in the garden when the flowers die off.
When they are kept inside, the flowering season is usually shortened by the heat of the indoor environment
Growing in pots is probably the most popular use for cyclamen, where they can provide bright, cheerful and happy colour throughout the cold, dark winter months.
Over the winter, they will grow successfully pretty much anywhere in pots, from a sun-drenched, north-facing patio to the south-facing front door that doesn’t even get a ray of sun.
Cyclamen can be grown in hanging baskets, where they make an excellent centrepiece surrounded by pansies or other winter-flowering annuals.
To get maximum flowering from cyclamen, they should be fertilised with dried blood.
It is what it sounds, the dried blood from the meatworks. This product is extremely high in nitrogen, which these plants love, and not to be confused with blood and bone, which is not as suitable.
For the best results, flower booster should be applied at the time of planting and every few weeks afterwards. It is also the preferred fertiliser for pansies and polyanthus.
Shrubs
In the shrub garden, we have a number of plants that present stunning flowers or foliage in these cold and darker months.
Shrubs are good in the garden offering structure and form and in their particular flowering season they provide colour.
Having a selection of winter-flowering shrubs in your garden is a sure way to provide cheer on a dull winter’s day.
Many camellias are flowering now, offering colour. There are varieties with flower colours ranging from white to pink to reds, with varying petal forms and features.
Camellias offer year-round structure in a garden as well as a long flowering period, lending themselves to be used in many types and styles of garden.
Camellias do best when an abundance of summer moisture is available, with relatively cool summers and soils rich in organic matter.
They can be grown successfully all over New Zealand. If you take care to provide suitable soil conditions, shelter from strong winds and provide some light shade, they will thrive.
Soil conditioning with the addition of peat moss will improve the texture of the soil and increase the acidity.
Always use acid fertiliser to feed these plants and never use garden lime.
Ericas are another large genera with many varieties, some good ones flowering now including Winter Fire and Ruby Shepherd.
Leucadendrons are another great range of shrubs that provide winter colour.
The blooms make excellent cut flowers that last for a long time indoors in a vase.
Nandina are a shrub with foliage that deepens to some spectacular colours as the cold sets in.
Nandinas are one of the most popular shrubs for a number of reasons.
They have a tidy compact growth habit that makes them good for small and narrow gardens.
They grow well in full sun or shady conditions, windy coastal conditions and pretty much all soil types.
They don’t need trimming or pruning and look good all year round.
One excellent cultivar is Nandina Pygmy, which forms a rounded shrub with a tidy compact habit. Its leaves are initially green and yellow tones, but darken to a dramatic red as the weather cools through autumn and into winter.
It can be used in gardens, borders, patio pots and containers. The leaf colour is actually more intense if the plants are kept a little hungry.
Another great cultivar is Nandina Gulfstream: this nandina has more finely divided and pointed leaves than Nandina Pygmy.
It is highly decorative and also valued for its wonderful autumn colour, which intensifies to a brilliant red in winter.
Easy-care and tolerant, Gulfstream makes the ultimate minimal care garden. It looks wonderful planted in a group.
Coprosma are similar to the nandinas in that their feature is the intense leaf colour change that takes place in cooler weather. Some good ones to look out for include; Wendy, Evening Glow and Scarlet O Hara.
Coprosma grow in most soil types and almost any position from shade to full sun.
Protection from harsh frost (-1C and below) is needed – they aren’t so good in colder climates like the central plateau, but grow great throughout milder areas.
So if your garden is looking droll, check out some of these plants to offer colour through the winter months.
I haven’t got space to also mention grevilleas, proteas, polygala, coelonema, astartea and hellebores, which all offer vibrant colour through the winter.
Have a good week.
Gareth Carter is general manager of Springvale Garden Centre.
