Winter flowering wonders

Thursday, February 07, 2019

Kissing's out of fashion when gorse isn't in flower. 
Reliable old gorse, it just keeps powering through the year with blooms to be found somewhere. We have plans for making gorse flower wine this year although judging by how prickly the bushes look I will need gloves or some kind of protection. It could be a painful venture, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Much as I moan about how sparse, stark and scant the landscape looks over winter it's true that there's always something to be found. Gorse is one of them. The snowball bushes aren't flowers - berries I suppose but they're a strange material - sort of airy and marshmallowy. They come in white to pinks and only at the depth of winter do I appreciate them.
I didn't find a good example of winter heliotrope but it's a fragrant winter flowering plant which spreads far and wide on banks. Makes a change to see some flowers.
Good old snowdrops, of course they were going to feature.




Aconites, the overlooked sunshine yellow beauties. I think they're just wonderful; yellow pearls with a green ruff.
Last but certainly not least I have to praise the beautiful shrubs that are Viburnum x Bodnantense. I love the look of them so much that every time I spot one out I exclaim. Fancy having pretty pink flowers in the coldest and darkest time of year? I asked for one for Christmas and was blessed with two which was amazing but as nowhere in our dark cluttered borders had  any space for them we decided to dig a hole in the middle of the front and back bits of grass and pop them there. Problem solved. Had to protect them with net to stop deer and rabbits ruining them. These two are variety 'dawn' but I did plant a 'Charles Lamont' in one part of the borders a year ago but it's not grown much and is not flowering.
So there we have it. A few winter flowering wonders (and a berry - shush).
Take care,
Sophie

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Sometimes I am sent items to feature as part of a post and these will be clearly mentioned as part of each post.Everything else is bought by myself. Any sponsored or collaboration posts will be clearly marked. Each post is my own content and all opinions are honest.