The not so long winter

To be honest, this really was one of the easiest winters I've experienced since moving to the coast 16 years ago. I can remember only a handful of mornings in the last three months when I looked out the window and saw frost on the ground and on the roofs of nearby houses. I have been easily jogging outside all winter, without once having to deal with snow, slush, or ice.

That does not mean, however, that the first signs of spring in the backyard aren't just as uplifting as in previous years.

As usual, the star of the show at this time of year is the Witchhazel, Hamamellis x intermedia. I grow 'Pallida' in my garden, which has yellow pom-pom flowers for about six weeks starting mid-late January. I love this yellow for its unrelenting cheerfulness. Perfect at this time of year. If I had a larger garden I would also include the cultivars 'Jelena' (bright orange flowers) and 'Diane' (red flowers). Not only do these deciduous shrubs flower in the winter, but they also have lovely blue-green foliage in summer, a pleasing vase shape, and gorgeous, reliably bright fall colour in golds, reds and oranges. It grows to about 10' tall and wide in eight years or so, and likes full sun to part shade.




A good underplanting for the witchazel, especially 'Jelena' or 'Diane' would be the snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis. It is flowering everywhere you look in Victoria just now, and it is a classic, sophisticated bulb that i am particularly fond of. I prefer it to the showier crocuses that are also beginning to poke their heads out just now.

Another perfect pairing for the snowdrop and the Witchhazel is the Christmas Rose, or Lenten Rose, Helleborus. These clumping evergreen perennials sit quietly for most of the year when the other plants in the garden are strutting their stuff, but then at the end of winter, and sometimes even earlier, they begin to flower. And oh, what a show. There are many different cultivars and a few different Hellebore species, and they come in creams, whites, pink, purples, reds, and even a mix of a few different colours on the same flower. Pictured here is a single white flowering Helleborus orientalis, but there are many more. Another personal favourite of mine is Helleborus x hybridus 'Walhelivor', known as the Ivory Prince hellebore. To see this and other hellebores, try this website devoted only to hellebores.

Another quirky little plant in my garden is the wasabi plant, Wasabia japonica. This is the plant that you're thinking; its rhizome is what traditionally makes up the spicy green paste that comes on the side of your sushi dish. This plant likes to be constantly moist, has interesting foliage, and has pretty white flowers at this time of year. We have yet to sample the root, but I will certainly post the results here when we do..

We are really lucky here on the coast for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is the incredible array of flowers we have in January and early February, long before the traditional harbinger of spring, the Forsythia, begins its happy show.