Creating Winter Colour

Most of my gardening at the moment consists of staring out of the back window looking at everything being watered by the relentless rain. My water butt is overflowing this week so it’s not all bad. The water table will be topped up too which is a good thing after the dry autumn.  In times such as this when it’s too wet to garden, we can enjoy the glorious colour of some winter delights. There are plenty of plants that produce colourful effects in winter.

By thinking about plant form, foliage and colour, we can include colourful stems too.

Even in small gardens, we can make more impact with seasonal planting by grouping plants in borders or areas rather than having it dotted about the garden. These warm corners can be enjoyed from indoors as we sit in front of the fire.

Creating Colour

Although at first it seems an impossible task, creating colour and interest all year around in a garden is an achievable project-with some careful planning.

In the spring it’s easy to create colour with the use of bulbs and spring flowering plants such as forsythia and dicentra, however as the year progresses the two most difficult times to produce colour are between late December to late January. One idea would be to plant flowering plants nearer to the house, this will help to give the impression that the whole garden is still flowering rather than just two or three choose shrubs or plants.

Winter Shrubs for bark colour

Here are a few ideas for beautiful bark colours. You might see other types of bark on your travels and as you start looking you will realise just how much colour there is in nature at this time of year!

Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire'

A robust, low-maintenance cornus is well worth growing for its wonderful, vigorous layers of orange, red and yellow stems. It is fast-growing but with a compact habit to about 1m (3ft), making it suitable for home gardens.

Prunus serrula (Tibetan cherry)

This small tree carries white blossom in spring and bears yellow foliage and red berries in autumn, but it really comes into its own in winter when the bronze, peeling bark shines like silk against a blue winter sky.

Acer griseum (paperbark maple)

This beautiful medium-sized tree brings 'wow' factor to the garden with its papery orange/red bark that peels back to reveal an irresistibly smooth surface beneath. It is a real garden all-rounder, because the tree also has wonderful autumn colour and grows slowly, making it suitable for smaller gardens. It can also be grown as a multi-stemmed specimen.

Tasmannia lanceolata (Australian pepper)

This underrated Chilean species is seldom seen in gardens. Given some shelter from the wind and coldest areas it is one of the most beautiful evergreens. In a sheltered spot with moist soil it can grow quite large in time, but on our sandy soil it is very slow growing.  Enjoy its red tipped stems which are subtle but beautiful. 

Cornus alba Baton Rouge ('Minbat')

Dogwoods have always been popular and here’s a new kid in town. Since 2007 when it was first introduced from France, Cornus alba Baton Rouge ('Minbat') has established itself as the number one red dogwood. Selected for its slightly more compact, bushy habit but still attaining a height of 1m (3ft) or more C. alba Baton Rouge ('Minbat') offers not only fabulous winter colour but has white flowers in spring, blueish-white berries in late summer and a striking display of reddish-purple foliage in autumn.

Acer tegmentosum (snakebark maple)

This is one of the best snakebarks for stem colour with superb jade and silver striated bark, complemented in winter by striking mahogany coloured buds. The stem colour is good even on reasonably mature stems.

Very hardy, but best in a position sheltered from strong winds (as it also has very attractive large leaves and good autumn colour). Ideally the stems look best in a sunny spot but against a dark backdrop, where the silver really stands out. A. tegmentosum works in most soils but does not like ground which is too wet or waterlogged, which wouldn’t really suit most gardens around Inishowen at the moment.

Betula albo-sinensis (Northern Chinese red birch)

Slightly larger than Acer griseum, this birch is distinctive in its marvellously coloured peeling bark. Tolerant of a range of soils, it grows up to around 20m (nearly 66ft).

There are a number of cultivars available and the tree may be grown to equally good effect as an individual or, like many birch species, as part of a group if sufficient space is available.

See more here:  RHS

Edible Hostas? Well I Never....

 Beans growing in their pod.

The cold wet weather has put a stop to most plant growth and in our garden at least the frost still eludes us so it still looks very much like autumn. Not everything has stopped growing though, we have plenty of nasturtiums coming up and an old broad bean pod I forgot to eat in summer has burst out and the beans are growing happily on a fire bucket. I found the beans when I was out hunting for some hostas I planted earlier in the year. It looks as though the slugs have munched these delicate plants though as they are nowhere to be seen, which is a pity as I wanted to eat them. 

Let me explain.

This year I was a bit lax in planting out winter vegetables. We do have some delicious kale and broccoli which have been a lovely accompaniment to many meals over the last few weeks. The problem is that this is all we have for the winter. I didn’t plant any root vegetables and the salad crops have all dwindled away. Because of this I have been researching to find anything else edible in the garden which will save me foraging around in wet hedgerows. This is how I came across the fact that this fast growing leafy plant, which slugs and snails adore, is also a pretty delicious addition to our dinner plate too.

Hostas

Hostas are herbaceous perennial s and usually grown as a leafy ornamental plants and are particularly popular for shady areas of the garden. Native to Asia, the hosta genus has around 45 different species and an estimated 5000 different cultivars and according to research they are all edible.

Hostas are popular in Japan as a vegetable known as urui (young leaves) and prized as sansai or ‘mountain vegetables’, a class of plants that are usually gathered wild from the mountain and are considered to be particularly strong in vitality. The plants can be prepared in a number of different ways including boiling in water and frying in a tempura batter. 

Raw edible parts

The shoots, leaf petiole, whole leaves and flowers are edible raw. The fresh leaves and stems are best harvested while young and tender. The older leaves become tough and fibrous and may become bitter in flavour. Hostas can be used as a cut and come again plant and will readily re-grow their leaves after being chopped down to the base as they grow really quickly.

All hosta species are edible but H. montana and H. sieboldii are most popularly used for vegetables.

Hosta stems are often likened to asparagus. The leaves are crunchy and have a good green leafy flavour. They also make a pleasant salad plant. Hostas are far easier to grow than asparagus and they make a good understory plant for edible forest gardens.

Best bit

The best part of the hosta is the ‘hoston’, the rolled up leaf as it emerges in the spring, although many varieties are still pretty good even once they have unfurled. The best way of cooking them depends on the size of the hostons. Small ones are delicious if you fry them for a few minutes, and then add a little light soy sauce and sesame oil. The slight bitterness of the hostons complements the saltiness of the soy sauce very well. Similarly, they go very well in stir fries. The chunkier hostons are better boiled briefly and used as a vegetable.

Later on, the open leaves can be used as a general pot herb or substituted for spinach in recipes like ‘hostakopita’. The flowers and flower buds are also edible.

Growing methods

It’s easy to get started with hostas. The plants I have were taken from a parent plant this year and I’m sure of the slugs didn’t get them they would be ready for harvesting. They can be divided easily by pulling the roots apart. This can be done at any time of year. The plants flourish in damp fertile soil, although will do well in most moist soils and I have grown many a plant in full sun which doesn’t seem to harm them too much. They like a mulch spread around the base to keep the roots moist.

A disclaimer

Remember to try only a small piece first and test for a skin reaction by rubbing a piece on your skin before putting anything in your mouth, like most things edible there are always people who have allergic reactions.

What got you into Gardening?

What got you into gardening?

When I was a young lad people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. My reply was to be wise. People asking were expecting me to say an exciting job like fireman but for me being able to say the right thing at the right time to someone was my aspiration. 

Before my teenage years I actually thought that anyone over the age of about twenty were automatically wise and had not only the answers to all of life’s problems but also didn’t make mistakes as they had done them all before the end of their teenage years. There was a part of me that was directionless and unambitious and this came into play because I thought the only think I had to do to be full of worldly wisdom, advice and answers, was to come out of my teenage years and have an easy ride the other side. 

It wasn’t too long before I realised that to be good at anything you have to put in a lot of time and energy and to in a position of worldly wisdom you have to keep making mistakes and learning from them as well as being caring and a good listener. 

I eventually concentrated my time and energy to growing plants, and maybe after spending thousands of hours doing gardeny things, I might have developed a bit of plant wisdom, but certainly not when it comes to people, that’s  different thing altogether. 

If anyone comes for life tips and advice I tend to laugh at inappropriate times, keep a silly grin on my face, come out with totally unrelated topics and suggest they talk to Julie as I slowly walk backwards to the door. If I can’t change the conversation to plants then I’m lost. After saying that not all of my words of wisdom are of any use in the garden either, there was that time I told someone to put garden slugs in the bin (about 100 of them). They did just that, putting them alive in their kitchen bin (not the wheelie bin outside) only to be greeted with them all over the house for the next few weeks. I’ll stick to gardening and leave the wisdom bits to Julie, she’s a better listener than me, I just usually wait for the other person to stop taking so I can talk about vegetables. 

And talking of vegetables….

Garden Influences

I was asking a few people about what got them started in a lifelong love of gardening, it could be something as simple as rooting a cutting in a jam jar. I asked if there was a particular person that influenced them in this wonderful hobby.

 Here are a few of their answers:

Lona:  My mother loves to grow flowers, but I'm more practical...I like a "reward" for my efforts! Mam and I live together so the compromise was I would keep planting the flowers she loves (She's almost 84) if she would share her knowledge of vegetables.

Eric Beuning: When I was growing up my mam worked a lot of double shifts. So I was essentially raised by an old Italian woman next door. She taught me the garden to plate philosophy she grew up with in Naples. She also ran a restaurant during her working life so she taught me how to do a lot of things in the kitchen. She had no children of her own. So I'm the only keeper of her heirloom seeds and recipes. Now I teach these things to my two and a half years old daughter.

Ramona :  My mother always had a huge garden and when I was young, she would have me help her. Although I grouched about helping her, I did like the one-on-one time with her. 

Paul : I remember going to my mams parents as a kid and they always had a nice garden.

Elaine: My dad. Some of my best times with him were planting seeds and pulling weeds. He was my inspiration and I always think of him when I am 'playing' in my garden.

Linda:  It was my mam. I was a bit of a surprise baby and the other kids were older. I had a delightful first 5 years when all the others were off at school I had her to myself. I remember many hours spent in the garden, planting seeds, picking raspberries to have on my cereal in the morning.

Jeff: My influence is my grandfather. It's actually my father who tells the stories about how they grew up gardening and living off the land. My grandmother preserved hundreds of jars of food before fridges. The stories I've been told and what I saw when we visited over the holidays, really sparked my interest. I picked it up as a young teenager and still going at it 43 years later. I hope one of my grandchildren inherited this gene and I become that person in their lives someday. If I was doing a scientific study, I bet our gardens keep us emotionally tied to these people, giving us a much healthier outlook on life.