Peter Dowdall: Let's turn over a new leaf for winter

I’m talking about skimmias full of flower buds, sarcococcas getting ready to open up their scented blooms, heucheras fresh from nursery beds with all their beautifully garbed foliage and not to speak of pieris, osmanthus, pittosporum and the other evergreen stalwart, ilex, or better known to you and me as holly.

Plants with colourful stems, interesting evergreen foliage, flower buds and flowers, and winter berries, are some of the features that make the garden colourful and interesting during the winter months.

Of course, there are other elements such as structure, form and texture that come to the fore during the winter, the way the low sunlight catches a tree or shrub and casts a beautiful silhouette or the way that frost sticks to a straw-coloured, ornamental grass creating that winter wonderland, hoary winter image. 

However, as the sunlight hours decrease and time spent indoors increases and we see the garden more from the other side of the window, it's great to have plants which provide colour and freshness during the season.

Heucheras are a long-time passion of mine, I love everything about the little guys. There are now over a thousand varieties from which to choose and each one nicer than the last. They are low-growing, some of them will send up flower spikes as high as 50cm or so but the main clump of foliage will remain at 20cm or lower.

When we hear the term evergreen, many of us think just that — of something that is always green but heucheras, whilst termed evergreen, are ever-purple, ever-red or orange, depending on the variety. I love the fiery-red autumnal tones of 'Forever Red', and the rich purple of 'Plum Pudding'. 

If you are looking for some real drama, opt for 'Sugar Plum', which has deep purple-coloured veins on paler purple leaves with silvery mottling. Perhaps my favourite of all is the variety 'Marmalade'. It has, as you might expect, marmalade-coloured foliage and is a reliable grower in most aspects, thriving in a pot or in beds.

Skimmias, on the other hand, except for the few variegated forms, are green-leaved and like only an acid soil. So grow yours in a pot or container if your soil has a high pH. Otherwise, that rich green foliage will instead, be an anaemic-yellowy green in colour. Rubella is a male form and perhaps the most widely grown variety for winter interest. It's not in flower but in bud at the moment and it is these buds which make the plant so attractive right now. They will then open up in the springtime into the most deliciously scented blooms which will positively entice you back into the garden.

Another scented star performer is the sarcococca. The species S. confusa is the one with the common name of 'Christmas Box'; however I think it should more correctly be referred to as the New Year's or mid-January box as it is not often in flower during December, opening up during January.

It’s a dense, low-growing, evergreen shrub, whose pure white blooms contrast fabulously with its dark green leaves. This is one to plant if you are struggling with a shady spot in your garden as it will thrive in low light levels.

One for the brighter and more open parts of the garden is the relatively recent introduction, Pittosporum Bannow Bay. This is a compact grower with striking, variegated foliage which will grow to about a metre in height. 

Again, it is an evergreen and what is unusual in an evergreen is that the foliage changes in colour during the winter. It doesn’t change completely, but it does develop a really attractive red hue on the leaves which brings a seasonal look to the shrub.

So, while I am enjoying the last rays of the autumn sunshine as it appears, I am also looking forward to the winter now with renewed enthusiasm as I begin to delight once more in what the garden brings during the quieter months.

• Got a gardening question for Peter Dowdall? Email gardenquestions@examiner.ie