5 Favorites: Add Color to the Winter Garden - Gardenista
Those of us who bemoan the lack of direct sun in our gardens should take heart. Photography by Jeanne Rostaing for Gardenista except where noted. Take a stroll down gritty Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. For a similar look, consider Soft Cress Mahonia ($17.95 from Spring Hill). Jennifer Williams planted them when she was the gardener in this often overlooked strip of quiet beauty She... ...recently moved on to take charge of both the Shakespeare and Fragrance Gardens as well as the Conifer Collection A little farther down, nestled under some sheltering trees, is another pop of color. A clump of Hellebores praecox, an unusually early bloomer, is covered with shy, ground-facing flowers. Photograph by Jacobo Werther via Wikimedia. Another early hellebore with a less conventional flower is Hellebores foetidus or stinking hellebore. For a selection of hellebore varieties, see 5 Favorites: Hardworking Hellebores. Another plant that brightens the winter shade garden is not a flower at all. It is a type of dogwood and in winter its stems turn a bright red or yellow that catches the eye. In the south nandinas are sometimes scorned as too common or invasive, but in the Northeast they mind their manners and stay where they are planted. Photograph by Marie Viljoen. But perhaps the most miraculous winter flowering shrub is the camellia. It likes sun or part shade, so give it the lightest spot that you have in your shade garden.