The Beautiful Surprises of a Garden in Winter

One of my greatest pleasures is enjoying a garden in winter. The forms of plants are exposed, and many display handsome habits. You find surprises, like a bloom or beautiful bark.

There are a variety of ways to add winter interest to the garden. (Now's not the time to plant them, just to enjoy them.) Here are a few of my favorites:

Female hollies. Their large, red berries have an ornate quality, especially this time of the year. Birds eat the berries, and the thorny evergreen foliage creates nesting areas. Plant American, Foster or Nellie R. Stevens hollies in larger spaces. Use dragon lady and red hollies for smaller sites.

Nandina. This plant's semi-evergreen foliage turns red in winter, almost matching the long racemes of the brilliant berries that form in fall. The berries persist, but the leaves might drop in severe cold. If grown in protected locations that are screened from prevailing winds, they might not defoliate. Leaves return, even when the shrub is frozen to the ground in the harshest of winters. The berries are excellent in dried flower arrangements.

Witch hazels. Hybrid witch hazels, such as Jelena ( Hamamelis X intermedia"Jelena"), exhibit reddish-orange flowers in winter. Arnold Promise is a hybrid with fragrant yellow flowers in late winter. Witch hazels are also shade-tolerant with showy fall foliage.

Winter-flowering jasmine. This shrub's cascading stems will droop as much as eight to 10 feet over the edge of a wall in as many years. Flowers open sporadically from January to March. Winter jasmine stems are square and remain green all winter. They have a handsome habit, but stems will root where they touch soil. Cut the plant back to four to six inches every three to five years to renew.

Camellias. These are among the showiest flowering, broadleaf evergreens. There are hardy hybrids that do well in woodland and sun in protected locations. Sasanqua camellias are commonly fall-flowering; Japanese varieties bloom late winter to spring. Ackerman hybrids were bred at the National Arboretum and are hardy to zero degrees. A list of Ackerman hybrids is available on the Web site of the Camellia Society of the Potomac Valley ( http://members.aol.com/camsoc1).

Rosemary. A tender perennial in this region, this woody evergreen will die in bitterly cold weather (below zero). Most are Department of Agriculture Hardiness Zone 7 and 8 plants. They struggle in colder and warmer climates. Rosemary planted in a sunny, protected area should weather most winters. If you lose one, replace it in spring, with an eastern exposure, near the house. Arp is a hybrid considered to be cold-tolerant to Zone 6.

Hellebores. These winter-flowering evergreen perennials are available in a variety of colors. Oriental hellebores have been hybridized to flower maroon, red, white, chartreuse, spotted and multicolored. Bearsfoot hellebore has chartreuse flowers that emerge in January or February on stems above leafy masses.

Bulbs and tubers. Some of the finest winter flowers come from early-blooming bulbs, such as glory-of-the-snow ( Chionodoxa), winter aconites ( Eranthis) and snowdrops ( Galanthus). Glory-of-the-snow reproduces by bulbs; winter aconites spread by self-sowing. They're better planted close to walkways, patios or entries where you can appreciate their dainty flowers. Snowdrops require larger areas where their white flowers will appear in drifts. They spread by seed and bulbs and might have to be dug to control vigorous growth. They perform well in the shade of deciduous trees.

Barking Up the Right Tree

Many woody plants have ornamental bark. Paperbark maple ( Acer griseum) has a cinnamon-red, peeling bark. Kousa dogwoods have brown and almost white to light tan lacy bark. Lacebark elm ( Ulmus parvifolia), lacebark pine ( Pinus bungeana) and striped maple ( A. pennsylvanicum) are all aptly named. The branches of coralbark Japanese maple ( A. palmatum"Sango Kaku") turn brilliant red in winter. The long straight stems of red osier dogwood shrubs ( Cornus sericea) become an outstanding blood red in cold temperatures.

Tough hybrid crape myrtles were introduced in the 1970s by Donald Egolf at the National Arboretum. Their winter bark display is outstanding because the wood defoliates and the trunks turn colors of mottled red to tan and brown. This tree flowers from summer into fall in full sun in the Washington region. The fuchsia Tonto and medium lavender Zuni hybrids stay five to 12 feet tall. Apalachee (light lavender) and Sioux (dark pink) achieve 13 to 20 feet in height; Choctaw (bright pink) and Natchez (white) are magnificent trees at 20 to 35 feet tall. Check with the arboretum or a local garden center to learn about others. Most have Native American names.