Margaret Moseley in her garden, January 2012

 Also blooming on the day of my visit is a tree that is new to me, Michelia maudiae. ( also known as Magnolia maudiae, just in case you are looking for a source ).  A relative of the banana shrub, Michelia figo, an old fashioned plant that you find in many old southern gardens;  this species  has large luscious fragrant white flowers.  The foliage makes me think of Magnolia virginiana with silvery green leaves.  A  large shrub or small tree, it  appears to be hardy to Zone 7.   Margaret got her plant from her friend Lyndy Broder.  ( Lyndy is a clematis expert with a large garden in Stockbridge, Georgia ).  When Margaret received the plant, she realized she didn’t like where it had been placed and decided to move it to another spot.  Because the rootball was so big, she dragged the plant to its current location where it thrives today.  I don’t think she ever really planted it, it just decided to grow.

Michelia maudiae in full bloom, Jan. 28, 2012

Part of what makes visiting with Margaret in her garden so special is the way she evokes pictures with her stories about her plants and the people who have visited her garden.  I admire the form of a bare Japanese maple and she says “oh you should see it when the foliage comes out.”  And then directs me to a clump of hellebores that I must see. 

Camellia 'Fragrant Pink'

Margaret has been gardening in the same place for over 50 years and she says the hardest thing about getting older is that she can’t do the work herself.  You can only point out so much to someone doing the work, when it comes to what needs to be done.  Then, in the next breath, she says “Oh, you need to come back and see the garden in a few weeks, a month, etc.  I leave and know that my next visit, whenever it is promises to be inspiring too.

Japanese maple and hellebores in January

Daphne odora 'Aureo-marginata' in garden designer David Ellis garden

Daphne odora 'Aureo-marginata' in my friend Julie's garden, she took the photo and her son shows just how large the plant has grown

Daphne odora 'Alba' in my garden, small but fragrant

If you seek winter fragrance and are not a plant snob, Mahonia bealei is reliable and hardy from Zone 7 to 9.  I know this because it was a dominant plant in my landscape when we purchased our current home over 6 years ago.  A stalwart shrub, it thrives in the shade and has tough spiny evergreen leaves.    I still have more than I want of it and as time and my budget allow, I plan to replace the majority of them with other shrubs.  Still, in December through February I  appreciate its yellow sweetly scented blooms especially  in other people’s gardens when I’m out walking our black lab.     If I were going to plant a mahonia it would be Mahonia ‘Soft Caress.’    This smaller and more diminutive mahonia is great in the garden or in containers and as the name suggests, the shiny evergreen foliage is soft to the touch.

Other plants of note this month include the buds of  Edgeworthia papyifera, the Chinese rice paper plant, colorful bark of many different trees, fuzzy  buds of deciduous magnolias, winterberry with brilliant red fruits (deciduous hollies)  and foliage of Angelica keiskei which I see offered by Plant Delights www.plantdelights.com , a mail order nursery in Raliegh, NC.   One note here about this Angelica, Plant Delights describes it as an evergreen rosette of foliage.  Mine is evergreen until summer heat sets in and then the foliage disappears for a few months, only to return when the weather cools off.  Because of this you may want to underplant with a low creeping evergreen groundcover. 

Edgeworthia papyifera buds in January 2012

Helleborus x hybridus in my garden, Jan 2012

Magnolia buds in January

I have been thinking about how much I enjoy deciduous trees in the winter landscape. Here in Atlanta, Georgia, Zone 7, the weather today is in the 60’s but temperatures are predicted to dip down to the 20’s by the weekend.  Then I’m certain we will have more mild weather followed by periods of cold, this is our winter.  While I enjoy winter blooms, especially,  Daphne odora, Helleborus x hybridus and the Japanese flowering apricot, Prunus mume, deciduous trees never disappoint.  Some have colorful bark while others offer striking silhouettes or curious forms like Harry Lauder’s walking stick, Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’ which only looks good in the winter when one can appreciate its twisted branches and catkins.   In the autumn I was charmed by the fruits of Taxodium distichum .  In January, these same fruits take on a new look.   Below are some of the plants that I enjoy at this time of year. 

Taxodium distichum fruits in January

Acer japonicum in January

Stewartia pseudocamellia bark in January

Wisteria at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC

Edgeworthia papyifera buds in January

Plants with interesting forms have always beckoned to me and winter is a season when I especially appreciate trees and shrubs with distinct branching as well as a particular growth habit, such as upright, fastigiate, weeping or pendulous.   Winter is also a time when we notice  bark, shiny, flaky, peeling or colorful.  Buds too, like those on big leaf magnolia,  Magnolia macrophylla, one of my favorite trees, or the distinct flower buds of Edgeworthia chrysantha, also known as paperbush.  Of  the plants I added to my garden last fall, paperbush elicits the most comments from my neighbors who wonder about this shrub which looks like it has been decorated with tiny pendulous ornaments on bare branches.  My yellow twig dogwood (the stems actually look more yellow-green) reminds me that I still want to add the shrubby dogwood called Cornus ‘Winter Flame’ and my Prunus mume has a few buds (it is a white flowered selection I bought from McMahan’sNursery last year).  I also have a small witchhazel with fragrant orange yellow flowers which I’m excited about even if I can’t remember its name.  Hellebores have started to bloom and daffodils are pushing up through the thick layer of  leaves in my woodland.   These are just a few of the gems in my garden that cheer me up especially on dreary days which there seem to be a lot of recently.

Below is a list of shrubs and trees with interesting forms or showy bark. 

Acer griseum- paperbark maple has shiny cinnamon colored bark and shines in the winter garden.

Acer palmatum ‘Sangu Kaku’- coral bark maple has coral red stems

Betula nigra ‘Dura-Heat’- a selection of river birch with beautiful bark and a high tolerance for heat and humidity.

Carpinus caroliniana- our native ironwood

Clethra barbinervis- a shrub with mottled bark, it also blooms in summer

Cornus mas ‘Spring Glow’ handsome bark and early yellow blooms

  Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’- red osier dogwood with winter  stems

  Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’- Harry Lauder’s walking stick, twisted branches and showy catkins

Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’- winter king hawthorn has mottled colorfulbark and persistent red fruits

witch hazel in February

Fagus americana -American beech has beautiful smooth gray bark and tawny  colored papery leaves that sound like gentle rain when they blow in the breeze

 Parrotia persica- ironwood has colorful bark and tiny red flowers in late winter

Ulmus alata – winged elm- distinct branches and buds

 Stewartia pseudocamellia- Japanese stewartia with beautiful mottled bark

Sources for Edgeworthia chrysantha:

Ashe-Simpson Nursery, 4961 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.,Atlanta, GA

770-458-3224

GardenHood

353 Boulevard SE
Atlanta, GA 30312

404-880-9848

  Despite this winter which seems particularly long and cold this year in the South, spring will be here soon and many of these winter beauties will transform when almost magically overnight they put out their new foliage and flowers.

winterberry in the landscape February

Winter buds of Edgeworthia chrysantha

While I have my favorites I decided to take a poll and hear from some fellow plant lovers at local nurseries about their favorites.  I asked them to recommend trees, shrubs and perennials,  not necessarily in that order.  Here’s what they had to say:

Rosemary Bathurst, Ashe-Simpson

Amsonia hubrichtii – a hardy perennial with great fall color and form.  The airy shapes bend to the wind.  She trims hers back by 1/3 to half  after it flowers in spring  to keep it small.

Aster frikartii ‘Monch’-  one of the latest blooming and the clear blue flowers work so well with Amsonia as well as the fall garden daisies like the Ryan series.

Crocus sativus- this charming bulb with light lilac purple blooms is unexpected at this time of year.  Site it in a location that is easy to access so you can harvest the saffron threads. 

Eupatorium coelestinum- Rosemary admits that this plant can grow even where you don’t want it  but the lilac blooms make up for this bad habit.  In fact it seems to thrive on neglect and shows up in gardens long after they have been abandoned.  

Ginkgo biloba – brilliant yellow leaves and the fact that they drop all at once. She says that in one town in Wisconsin they have a betting pool that you enter by picking the date and time that the tree in the town square will drop its leaves.  The tree can be precise to the hour!

Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Pee Wee’ –very dark burgundy fall leaf color and bark interest in winter.  She also likes its size, smaller than the species growing to about 4’ tall.     

Justin Branton, Habersham Gardens

Chionanthus retusus, Chinese fringe tree-although this tree is known for its spring blooms it also displays handsome bark which he appreciates in winter.

Sedum sieboldii ‘October Daphne’-gray green foliage and deep pink flowers

Vaccinium darrowii-also known as evergreen blueberry, tiny evergreen leaves,  it grows 1 to 4’tall and makes a great plant for edging or containers.

Itea virginica 'Merlot'

Melodie McDanal and David McMullin, GardenHood

Itea virginica ‘Merlot’-a compact selection of the native Virginia sweetspire with red and burgundy fall foliage. 

 Juniperus communis ‘Gold Cone’-an upright conifer with golden new growth, turns bluish-green in winter.  Grow it in full sun for best color.  Tolerates drought.   

Lespedeza liukiuensis ‘Little Volcano’- also known as Little Volcano bush clover is covered with masses of red purple flowers that last until late October.  It grows 4 to 6’ tall and is beautiful as it moves with the breeze.

Oxydendrum arboreum

Oxydendrum arboreum-called sourwood, this native tree is one of the first to exhibit brilliant red fall foliage that persists late into the season. 

Viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet'

Viburnum tinus ‘Spring Bouquet’-is an evergreen viburnum with dark green foliage, deep red stems and flowers in very early spring.  It grows 5 to 6’ tall, perfect for small hedges or screening.   

Dianna Allstadt, Scottsdale Farms

Cupressus arizonica ‘Blue Ice’-this conifer has fragrant branches she loves to use in arrangements and for wreaths and garlands.  A great color in the winter garden.

Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’- great for containers.  The foliage takes on purple tints in winter. 

Pyracantha ‘Victory’-the brilliant red berries that persist into winter.

Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii Amethyst-this coralberry has vivid purple hot pink berries that stay on after the shrub drops its foliage. 

Acer palmatum 'Sangu Kaku'

Sources: call ahead for hours of operation

Ashe-Simpson Garden Center

4961 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-458-3224

 GardenHood

 353 Boulevard SE, Atlanta, GA 30312, 404-880-9848

Habersham Gardens

2067 Manchester St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30324, 404-873-2484

Scottsdale Farms

 15639 Birmingham Hwy,(Hwy 372), Alpharetta, GA 30004

770-777-5875