Peter Dowdall: Witch hazel and foliage cast a spell in winter

Check out the important role hammelis and euonymus play by brightening up your outdoor space at this time of year 

The unusual golden flowers of witch hazel will brighten up gardens throughout the winter. Pictures: iStock

I don't like to refer to any day as dreary so I need to think of another adjective to describe the weather during some of the last week. The reason I don’t like to use the word “dreary” is because, the sun has still come up, though we may struggle to see it! 

And with that, comes new promise and new growth each day. Every day that I can get up, have the use of all my own limbs and can get out and about is not a dreary day.

Let’s go with “grey”, so.

Foliage plays a really important role in the winter garden in terms of both colour and in texture but it is not all leaves and stems in the winter garden, there are flowers too which will brighten up the outdoor space during the next few months along with many, which will also provide scent.

Hamamelis or witch hazels are only now baring themselves of their stunning autumnal garb for their leaf colour during the last few months has been sensational. But now, that they are naked of such coverings, comes their real-time to show off. Over the next few weeks and months, unusual flowers with mini, strap-like petals will open up from close to the stems. 

They really are quite something to see. There are many varieties from which to choose but for me it is the bright yellows like 'Arnold Promise’ or ‘Pallida’ which give the best value, as many of the other forms which open up as orange or copper coloured blooms can get lost in the greyness.

A plant known by many as a skin tonic, the witch hazel will also fill the garden, or at least it’s immediate environs with a magical, sweet aroma whilst in bloom. Try planting it with the evergreen sarcococca beneath as, this lower growing plant also referred to as Christmas box, will extend the season of scent when it’s flowers open up, from January onwards, providing the most wonderful of all winter garden scents.

We have had a pretty grey November thus far and as this is quite normal in Ireland, we need to look for plants that brighten up the garden during these months. 

One that I have really noticed recently is a foliage plant that will need little or no introduction to most and that is Euonymus ‘Emerald n Gold’.

A very common, garden plant when grown as a low growing shrub, ideal for evergreen ground cover but the ones that I have been particularly noticing of late are those Euonymus grown as what are referred to as mini-standards. In other words, grown like lollipops. 

Many plants can be grown as mini or full-standards and seeing euonymus grown in this way is nothing really new but I have noticed quite mature specimens in several gardens this year looking really great. Perhaps this is back to the 5km restrictions and I am taking more notice of the beauty close to home.

This euonymus has always appealed to me, even when grown as a ground cover plant, it has attractive golden yellow and green foliage hence the cultivar name. It is bright without being gaudy as many variegated plants can be.

One garden where I have been admiring them daily has five of them standing like horticultural sentries, flanking a driveway and what really makes them stand out is the beautifully maintained, mature Beech hedge behind them. 

I didn't really notice euonymus during the summer as the colour of the foliage nearly merged into the beech behind. But during these 'grey' days, they have really come into their own 

I don’t really notice them during the summer, as the colour of the foliage nearly merges into the pale green of the beech behind and there’s much perennial flower growth beneath the euonymus, to attract the attention. 

But now, during theses “grey” days, they really have come into their own, if not quite shining in the winter gloom, at least brightening up the same driveway as the coppery brown of the winter beech hedge provides a perfect complement to the golden lollipops.

The other ones that I noticed are in a garden still within my 5kms and again, what makes them sing is the backdrop, highlighting the need for good plant association in good garden design. To get the best out of any plant, depends on what you plant them with. 

This garden has three euonymus mini-standards, probably about 15 years old now and they are standing, in a back garden bed at the end of a lawn with a luxuriant, deep green yew hedge behind. In this case it is the dark green which acts a perfect foil for the pale green and yellow foliage of the euonymus.