Shrubs for Winter Blooming

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 10 (Supplement)

Shrubs for Winter Blooming

F OR ihose who wish to have' some flowering shrubs in bloom >duripg-the winter months, it is a good- idea ;'to make a list each year of the shrubs seen in bloom. Though many of the shrubs are quite hardy, they are seen to the best advantage when planted in warm sheltered places against a dark background. Three heaths are in bloom at midwinter or soon afterwards. Erica darleyensis, a wide spreading plant, usually commences to bloom in November and continues until October. E. carnea, one of the parents of the last named, with reddish flowers, is at its best in August. There are several other varieties of the type with white and pinkish flowers. Erica lusitanica, the third kind, grows

Choice of Charming Floral Subjects

into a' shapely bush, and its white flowers, which are pink in the bud stage, begin to open in midwinter and continue until September, This latter species is not suitable for very cold districts. All these heaths should be. planted in soil without lime and the old flower heads should be removed from the dwarf kinds as soon as they have faded.

Garrya elliptica is an attractive shrub for the winter. There are male and female forms, the male being the more attractive with its long drooping catkins. Chimonanthus fragrans is another shrub which flowers 011 leafless branches during winter. The creamy yellow or, in the case of the variety grandiflora, yellow flowers, are very fragrant. A

shoot bearing three or four flowers, if taken into the house is sufficient to scent a room of moderate size. Some people fail to get this shrub to bloom owing to pruning it too hard. The best results are obtained by leaving it unpruned for a number of years. Jasminum mtdiflorum as a low bush, or trained against a wall, will give its quota of winter flowers. This is quite easily grown and any failure to flower is usually due to wrong pruning. Any necessary pruning should be done as soon as the , flowers fade, and there should be no further pruning until the next season's flowers are over. Although plants belonging to the rose family are more prominent later in the year, there are two which attract a great deal of attention in late winter, the very_ attractive Prunus Davidiana and the interesting Oso Berry of California (Nuttallia «cerasiformis).