Post-Winter Evaluations

Late winter to early spring is one of the hardest times of year for me (the other being late summer). The dried stems of perennials and annuals that provide some winter structure in a garden where the evergreen trees and shrubs are years from filling in have been beaten and battered with the ugly stick all winter. Many plants are looking tired, bedraggled, and at the end of their rope, much like human residents of the Pacific Northwest after the cold, wet winter.

Calceolaria arachnoidea looks terrible at the moment. It's past time to cut back this mess. It's lucky it's so amazing the rest of the year and it regrows quickly. It gets a pass.

These Juncus effusus end up floppy after even a little snow. I am going to cut them back and let them regrow, but it may be time to consider replacements.

Other plants, however, either come through winter looking just as fresh as they do in summer, or begin growing so early that they look refreshed just as it's time to cut other things back.

Many people remove the old foliage on their epimediums to better display the flowers. The foliage of some varieties don't hold up well in winter. I prefer to grow types with foliage that endures winter. Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphurea' is one such. 

Epimedium sagittatum is another with foliage little affected by winter. The flowers pop out on top of last years foliage all on their own. No need for me to intervene by cutting off the old leaves. That just allows light to reach the ground underneath and encourages any weed seeds to germinate.

This bergenia is starting to green up, but was displaying beautiful deep reds all winter. I wish I could remember if it was Winter Glow or Bressingham Ruby. It looks much better than the floppy-leaved bergenia I grew previously.

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, of course, looks pristine year-round. At least, it does here. The original patch suffers from leaf spots. Too much shade and surrounding plants, I imagine.

Cardamine diphylla is an early grower that provides a seasonal change in texture from the evergreen dwarf mondo grass growing underneath it. 

Cistus, yucca, and Arctostaphylos look wonderful all year.

Yarrow goes through a brief ugly period in winter, but starts producing fresh new leaves early.

Pulmonaria (I do wish I remembered which one this is) is another early riser, redeeming its less-than-appealing semi-evergreen winter look.

Sasa hayatae (aka veitchii 'Nana') is arguably improved in winter, as the leaf edges bleach to provide additional interest.

A well-designed, mature garden has the evergreen bones and early growers to carry things through until the lushness of spring and summer. A young garden like mine, however, suffers a barren period where things have been cut back and the garden looks rather empty until plants start to grow again in earnest. This is the time of year to evaluate the ratio of evergreens and early growers to plants that don't fill in until late spring or summer. It's also a time to judge the performance of plants, after they've gone through the trials of winter.

This shade garden looks absolutely pathetic right now. The camellias, fatsia, mahonia, and other evergreens have a long way to go before they fill in, and the hakone grass covering most of the ground, and other deciduous perennials, only just started growing.

This winter wasn't much of a test, but did have one curve ball in February. December and January stayed above 20 degrees Fahrenheit here. I thought it would be a zone 9 winter (something I don't think I've ever experienced here in the hills of SW Washington), but then mid-February brought a late freeze of 18 degrees and several inches of snow. Before that, it had been quite warm, bringing many plants out of dormancy. Still very mild for a USDA zone 8a garden, but the relatively late timing of the freeze, after such a mild period, was a little concerning. Hellebore and spring bulbs were unfazed. The first wave of new fronds on Adiantum venustum were killed, except where they were protected by another plant overhead. For the second year in a row, Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Akebono' had its flower buds killed. Crinodendron hookerianum, surprisingly, was completely unharmed (and unprotected, unlike the edgeworthia) and will be covered in flowers later in spring. Really, edgeworthia? You, a zone 7 plant, are going to drop your buds when the crinodendron, a zone 8b plant, had no problem? As the flowers are the main attraction of edgeworthia, I've decided it's not worth growing in this garden. It's been potted up and will be taken to my local blogger swap. Hopefully it survives and delights some gardener in the heat island of Portland. I'm done with it.

The crinodendron performed better this winter than the edgeworthia. Guess who's staying?

I'll run through the rest of the winners and losers in this post with words kept to a minimum. I may have to do a few more of these posts like this, as I can't fit everything into this one.

Rhododendron pachysanthum turns green whenever it rains, but even now last years leaves look lovely on dry days. I'm very happy with the combination of that foliage and the Acer griseum bark.

First winter for Podocarpus 'Chocolate Box' in my garden. It's a winner! I didn't catch it at its darkest, but it's still nice here.

Not sure why this Rohdea died to the ground when my others were untouched...

Native Sidalcea, either S. virgata or S. campestris, maintains an attractive clump of evergreen basal leaves in winter.

My two seedlings of Eucalyptis pauciflora ssp. niphophila amazed me by taking no damage, despite being planted in fall, only around 6 inches tall with stems less than the diameter of a wooden skewer. I did, however, bury them in fir branches during the cold in February.

I love the winter color of Leucothoe davisiae.

Agave bracteosa had a 50% success rate. Two out of four look like this photo. The other two are fine. I have no idea why.

Geranium robustum hardly even noticed winter.

This was one of my favorite combinations all winter.

 

The Helleborus x sternii I added to the driveway island have proven an outstanding addition, providing relatively large, architectural foliage and flowers to a overwhelmingly fine-textured bed.

Euphorbia 'Ascott Rainbow' and Veronica pimelioides 'Quicksilver' make a great combo.

I'm done with this Dianthus. Slug bait city.

I've been experimenting with growing Sedum spathulifolium with Origanum 'Kent Beauty' and spring bulbs, to provide an evergreen ground cover when the oregano goes dormant. The sedum apparently has no problem being smothered in oregano all summer.

Podocarpus 'Blue Gem', bronze Carex comans, and Veronica perfoliata make a nice, evergreen combo.

Euphorbia 'Nothowlee' (BLACKBIRD) just beginning to bloom with Erica arborea 'Estrella Gold' not far behind.

But not all are performing as well. Check the root base when buying this plant. This one had a 2-inch pot-shaped mass of roots choking the base.

I was just about to declare Stachys byzantina 'Helen Von Stein' a detestable mound of woolly mush when it started sending out new leaves. It stays, for now.

Ruta graveolens 'Jackman's Blue' has been hit or miss. This one looks relatively nice.

This regular Ruta graveolens is much less compact and attractive.

Elymus magellanicus looks too ugly in winter and is too hard to clean up without cutting it to the ground (which evergreen grasses dislike). It's getting the shovel and will be replaced with evergreen shrubs.

Veronica ochracea 'James Stirling', with 'Sapphire' in the background showing its purple winter tips, and Rhododendron impeditum in the foreground, are all winners in my book. The Libertia scattered among them, less so.

 

Astelia nervosa 'Red Devil' is most definitely a winner, though it does need a little cleaning up here and there.

Rhododendron faithiae, Polystichum munitum, Sciadopytis verticillata, Fargesia dracocephala 'Rufa' (in background) are all winners, and I love the textures in this bed.

Carex comans and Rhododendron roxieanum var. oreonastes add more to this textural tableau. But the carex is due for a trim to eliminate the brown bits for a fresh spring look.

Veronica 'Blue Mist' amid bronze Carex comans.

Primula vulgaris Sunset Strain is coming into bloom. I scattered seed from my three original plants in autumn of 2016. These are some of the resulting seedlings.

I am so ok with this combo of Primula and Adiantum venustum.

Iris japonica [small form] looks rather tattered this time of year, but the leaf bases retain that wonderful purple color.

Stachyurus praecox 'Sterling Silver' may be getting the shovel. The dead, brown leaves hung on all winter, and most of the flowers aborted. It was a pretty sad rescue plant, though. I'll give it one more year.

Woodwardia unigemmata remained evergreen in the mild winter, and is making babies!

Rubus lineatus remained evergreen through 21 degrees in December, and started growing in the mild weather of January. That proved to be a mistake when the February freeze hit, but it's already sending up new shoots.

And I'll end here with Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Girard's Rainbow'. I love the red tints it takes on in winter.

A note on taxonomy: You may have noticed I referred to several hebes and a parahebe as veronicas. Both Hebe and Parahebe, along with several other genera, have been placed under Veronica. You can still use hebe or parahebe as common names. I'm sure there will be resistance in the horticultural community to this change. History, does, after all, repeat itself. Most hebes were originally placed in the genus Veronica. They weren't separated out into the genus Hebe until the 1920's (and later further divided into Parahebe and related genera). Horticulturists at that time continued to refer to them as Veronica, resisting the switch to Hebe. Funny, isn't it? For more detail and the reasoning behind this taxonomic merge, I refer you to this article by Christopher Taylor.