PLANTING FOR WINTER COLOUR
Much cheerful positive colour, other than that given by flowers or
leaves, may be obtained in winter by using a good selection of small
trees with coloured bark. Of these the most useful are the Red Dogwood
and some of the willows. This planting for colour of bright-barked
trees is no new thing, for something like half a century ago the late
Lord Somers, at Eastnor Castle near Malvern, used to "paint his woods,"
as he described it, in this way.
The Cardinal Willow has bright red bark, _Salix britzensis_ orange, and
the Golden Osier bright yellow. The yearly growth has the best-coloured
bark, so that when they are employed for giving colour it is usual to
cut them every winter; moreover, the large quantity of young shoots
that the cutting induces naturally increases the density of the
colour-effect. But if they are planted in a rather large way it is
better that the regular winter cutting should be restricted to those
near the outer edge, and to let a good proportion of those within stand
for two or more years, and to have some in the background that are
never cut at all, but that are allowed to grow to their full size and
to show their natural habit.
It will also be well to avoid planting them exclusively sort by sort,
but to group and intergroup carefully assorted colours, such as the
scarlet Willow with the purple-barked kind, and to let this pass into
the American Willow with the black stem. Such a group should not be too
large, and it should be near the pathway, for it will show best near
at hand. For the sake of the bark-colouring, it would be best to cut
it all every year, although in the larger plantings it is desirable to
have the trees of different ages, or the effect may be too much that of
a mere crop instead of a well-arranged garden grouping.
Some of the garden Roses, both of the free-growing and bush kinds, have
finely coloured bark that can be used in much the same way. They are
specially good in broken ground, such as the banks of an old hollow
cart-way converted to garden use, or the sloping _débris_ of a quarry.
Of the free kinds, the best coloured are _Rosa ferruginea_, whose
leaves are red as well as the stem--it is the _Rosa rubrifolia_ of
nurseries;--and the varieties of Boursault Roses, derived from _Rosa
alpina_. As bushes for giving reddish colouring, _Rosa lucida_ would be
among the best.
By waterside the Great Reedmace--commonly but wrongly called
Bulrush--holds its handsome seed-heads nearly through the winter, and
beds of the Common Reed (_Arundo Phragmites_) stand up winter through
in masses of light, warm colouring that are grateful to the eye and
suggest comfortable harbourage for wildfowl.
Some shrubs have conspicuously green bark, such as the Spindletree;
but the habit of growth is rather too diffuse to let it make a distinct
show of colour. _Leycesteria formosa_ is being tried in mass for winter
colour in some gardens, but I venture to feel a little doubtful of its
success; for though the skin of the half-woody stem is bright green,
the plant has the habit of retaining some of its leaves and the remains
of its flowering tips till January, or even later. After frost these
have the appearance of untidy grey rags, and are distinctly unsightly.
The brightest effect of all green-barked plants is that given by
Whortleberry, a plant that on peaty or sandy soils is one of the most
enjoyable of winter undershrubs.
It would add greatly to the enjoyment of many country places if
some portions were planted with evergreens expressly for winter
effect. Some region on the outskirts of the garden, and between it
and woodland, would be the most desirable. If well done the sense of
wintry discomfort would disappear, for nearly all the growing things
would be at their best, and even in summer, shrubs and plants can do
no more than this. In summer, too, it would be good to see, for the
green things would have such an interplanting of free Roses, Jasmines,
Clematis, Honeysuckles, Forsythia, and so on, as would make charming
incidents of flower-beauty.
The place for this winter walk should be sheltered from the north and
east. I have such a place in my mind's eye, where, beyond the home
garden and partly wooded old shrubbery, there is a valley running up
into a fir-wooded hill. The path goes up the hillside diagonally,
with a very gentle gradient. In the cooler, lower portion there would
be Rhododendrons and Kalmias, with lower growths of Skimmia and
Gaultheria. Close to the path, on the less sunny side, would be Lent
Hellebores and the delightful winter greenery of Epimedium. Then in
full sun _Andromeda japonica_, and on the shadier side _Andromeda
floribunda_. Both of these hard and rather brittle-wooded shrubs
belong to the group properly named _Pieris_, and form dense bushes
four or more feet high. At their foot would be the lower-growing
Andromedas of the _Leucothoē_ section, with lissome branches of a more
willow-like character. These make a handsome ground-carpeting from
one to two feet high, beautiful at all seasons--the leaves in winter
tinted or marbled with red. Portions of the cooler side would also
have fringes of Hartstongue and Polypody, both winter ferns. Then, as
the path rose into more direct sunlight, there would be Cistuses--in
all mild winter days giving off their strong, cordial scent--and the
dwarf Rhododendrons. Behind the Cistuses would be White Broom, finely
green-stemmed in winter. There would even be shrubs in flower; the
thick-set yellowish bloom of Witch Hazel (_Hamamelis_) and the bright
yellow of _Jasminum nudiflorum_. Then groups of Junipers, and all
the ground carpeted with Heath, and so to the upper Fir-wood. Then,
after the comforting greenery of the lower region, the lovely colour
of distant winter landscape would be intensely enjoyable; for the
greys and purples of the leafless woodland of middle distance have
a beauty that no summer landscape can show. In clear weather the
further distances have tints of an extraordinary purity, while the more
frequent days of slightly distant haze have another kind of beautiful
mystery.
The common Laurel is generally seen as a long-suffering garden hack,
put to all sorts of rather ignoble uses. It is so cheap to buy, so
quick of growth, and so useful as an easily made screen that its
better use is, except in rare instances, lost sight of. Planted in
thin woodland and never pruned, it grows into a small tree that takes
curious ways and shapes of trunk and branch of a character that is
remarkably pictorial.