It can feel rather depressing if you're looking out into your garden in the winter. Those blasts of colour, greenery and foliage are long gone. As you await the spring, it can feel like your gardens are growing in slow motion. The good news is that there are a number of trees and shrubs that can help provide year-round interest in the garden. These plants help bridge the gap when the summer garden drama has a much-needed break. Banishing those winter blues and making those darker days feel much more appealing in the garden.
Here are my hidden gem small garden trees and shrubs to brighten your borders no matter what time of year.
Betula utilis jacquemontii
The Himalayan birch is the secret weapon of nearly all garden designers, especially in multi-stem form. This gives this tree a beautiful small broad growth habit, great for smaller gardens. This tree has arresting ghostly white bark in the winter, which brightens any garden. In the summer, it is covered in small ribbed leaves. A great focal point for any border. The leaf fall is so minimal that you don't even need to collect the leaves come autumn.
Arbutus unedo
The Strawberry tree is a fantastic evergreen specimen to bring winter blooms to your garden. In autumn, the tree produces strawberry-shaped fruits, which are great for the birds, and then in November, it has beautiful white flowers. It doesn't end there. The bark peels away from the trunk, providing texture. Its evergreen leaves give greenery to the garden all year round.
Forsythia × intermedia
This unrated shrub is a great background plant for 11 months of the year. Offering 1.5m of tall green growth on multiple stems, allowing other plants to shine around it. Relatively underwhelming for the most part, but wait until February when the entire shrub is covered in dayglo yellow flowers. Perfect for brightening up shady borders, driveways or awkward corners. It will cope with pretty much all soil and a bit of neglect.
Chaenomeles speciosa
This Japanese flowering quince is a real winner come wintertime. When bright pink and blush flowers erupt from its stems when everything else is looking sorry for itself, it will literally set your garden on fire! A thorny deciduous specimen, this is great to act as a deterrent near paths or fences. In the summer, it acts as a good foil for other plants with its glossy green leaves.
Hamamelis x intermedia
The hybrid Witch Hazel is another shrub that will surprise and invigorate your senses mid-winter. These multistep shrubs are super slow growing and have ribbed matt leaves during summer, which wave in the breeze. Then come January alien-like scented flowers emerge. Depending on the cultivar, these unusual flowers add a pop of bright yellow, orange or red to the garden.
Viburnum tinus' Eve Prince'
Viburnum is a solid plant choice for any garden as they are good value and tough for beginner gardeners. Having a few strategically placed will hold your garden together during the winter. The 'Eve Prince' cultivar has a secret weapon. It is a slow-growing evergreen shrub that rabbits leave well alone, and flowers from Jan to March adding a pop of white to the garden.
Winter doesn't need to be bleak in the garden. By adding suitable trees and shrubs, you can extend the interest in your gardens. Trees and shrubs are essential habitats for birds, bats and other mammals. Adding them to our gardens helps create wildlife corridors in our cities and can bring a sense of calm even to frantic city areas. By adding a few suitable trees and shrubs that offer year-round interest, you'll want to spend more time admiring it and forgetting about those January blues!
Lee Burkhill (The Garden Ninja)
About Lee
Lee Burkhill aka the Garden Ninja is a multi-award-winning garden designer, horticulturist, garden blogger, vlogger, TV Presenter and YouTuber. Hailing from the North West of England, Lee has an infectious enthusiasm for helping gardeners all over the world. The Garden Ninja is his garden design business and online gardening blog, and he was recently voted one of the Top 10 Gardening Bloggers and Garden Vloggers in the UK. Lee is also part of the BBC Garden Rescue Team, which you can watch on weekdays at 3.45 pm on BBC One or on BBC iPlayer. Here at Lazy Susan, we’re looking forward to sharing his exclusive horticultural tips, tricks and advice on our blog.
