Asian hybrid witch hazel blooms in winter, while N.C. native witch hazel is a fall bloomer. Photo: UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens
The UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens is hosting a free winter garden walk at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26.
The tour will begin at the school’s greenhouse where Larry Mellichamp, gardens director, will give a short talk on winter plants. Afterward, visitors will walk through the Susie Harwood Garden with garden staff members to see the bark, berries – even blooms – that a southern garden can provide in winter.
If you’re inspired by what you see, you can check out the Botanical Gardens’ winter plant sale, which runs 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. the same day. For more information, call 704-687-0719 or check out the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens site.
No truly winter-blooming species are native to the area, according to Mellichamp, and if you think about it, it makes sense: There are few pollinators available when plants produce flowers in January.
Plant a winter-interest garden now
Winter-interest trees and plants often carry berries late in the year, or produce shaggy or ornamental bark that looks striking when rimmed with frost. A walk through the Botanical Gardens reveals there’s a lot to choose from.
“The boldest [choice] would be camellias,” says Paul Gross, assistant director of the botanical gardens. “An old-fashioned favorite would be winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima (and) also Lenten Rose, for a perennial. The best ‘newcomer’ would be Edgeworthia chrysantha.” For what Gross calls a “classically Asian” choice, there’s Japanese apricot, or Prunus mume.
Winter daphne. Photo: University of Washington
For colorful twigs, Gross recommends coral bark Japanese maple or bloodtwig dogwood. And for winter fragrance, she loves wintersweet, Chimonanthus and winter daphne, Daphne odora.
-Amber Veverka
