LIFESTYLES WINTER FLOWERS Brighten up garden with early bloomers IT’S 5S A.M. and I’m stuck out at the airport waiting for flight 007 to touch down and disgorge my Aunt Bertha from Oshawa. I wouldn't mind her visits so much if she would just stop trying to save a couple of bucks by taking these damn red eye flights. More out of an attempt to kill time than any honest belief in my luck, I check out the ‘Early Arriv- als’ board. Much to my surprise, good fortune, flight 007 and Big Bertha all seem to have arrived a. little early. God is in his heaven and show me the way to the lottery booth. If you, like me, are as pleasantly surprised by the early arrival of color in the garden as you are with Aunt Bertha’s early arrival at the airport, there are a few things you can do to make it a more common occurrence. Color in the garden that is, not Aunt Bertha. The simplest way to accomplish this is through the use of plants which can be expected to bloom or produce colorful fruit or foliage early in the year. Examples can be found in trees, shrubs and the her- baceous perennials. TREES The autumn-flowering cherry (prunus subhistella ‘Autumnalis’) will produce splashes of color from early November to the end of March depending on weather. This small, flowering tree seldom reaches heights and widths in excess of 25 feet and is therefore well suited to the scale of the average residential landscape. There are a few smaller trees that are sometimes referred to as large shrubs; I prefer to group them with the trees. Not oniy are they used as ‘trees’ in the smuter landscapes of today, but there are also not that many flowering trees to talk about in this article. This classification would include the Chinese Witch Hazels (hamamelis species} as they are quite capable of attaining heights of 20 to 30 feet. There are several varieties and, depending on your choice, you can expect interesting tufts of bright yellow through burnt gold and copper flowers from December to March. Another small tree (or large shrub) worth considering is the Cornelian cherry (cornus mas), which can reach heights of 15 to 20 feet. This relative of our native dogwood can dazzle the eye with clusters of small, bright yellow flowers in February. SHRUBS We have much more to choose from here. You will find it easier to brighten up those last days of winter with smaller scale shrubs than the trees. Everyone is proba- bly familiar with the forsythias; the bright yellow flowers which appear in February are numbered amongst our favorites in the garden and as cut flowers. The many different forms available provide us with the opportunity to 13 - Friday, January 26, 1990 - North Shore News which produces sweetly-scented, pale yellow flowers with purple centres. Its blooming period runs from December to February. Corylopsis, another easily grown shrub is very attractive with its drooping, primrose-yellow flowers that appear in February and March. C. pacifolia and c. spicata are considered to have the most to offer. over the garden gate work one of these plants into almost every garden situation. While many of you look to the camellias for mid-spring color, some varieties can surprise us with that needed early color. C. sasanqua can begin flowering in October and continue into Feb- ruary, while some of the ‘Common Camellias’ from Japan (c. japonica) begin in February and last until May. Winter Sweet (chimonanthus praecox) is a medium-sized shrub Geoff Tobiasson The Firethorns (pyracantha Species) are amongst winter's most dependable shrubs for the produc- tion of colorful berries. The various forms which will produce colors ranging from species such as r. barbatum, r. cilpenense, r. dauricum, r. moupinense, r. mucronulatum and some of the hybrids of same. HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS The first to deserve mention here LIFESTYLES must be the Christmas Rose thelleborous niger) and its close relatives. Although it has nothing to do with roses, this plant is a favorite among those who know it. Its off-white flowers appear in December and January. The stores abound with brilliant displays of Polyantha Primroses (primula polyantha) right now and these flowers are difficult to ref- use. However, if you should succumb to temptation and take them home to your garden, do not expect their color to continue. One night of hard frost will destroy the flowers that have been forced into view in the greenhouse. Although too late to do anything about it now, try to remember to plant some early-flowering spring buths next fall, Winter aconites (eranthis), snowdrops (galanthus), crocus, and some of the early narcissi such as n. ‘February Gold’ and n. ‘Peeping Tom’ would be most ap- propriate. I have touched on but a few of my favorites here. 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