Winter fragrance and color in the garden

Looking for some color or fragrance in your garden for late fall and winter? This spring and summer, consider shopping for a one or more of these shrubs and perennials. Some will light up your winter landscape, and others will add a delightful perfume to your garden.

Hellebores

Often called the “Lenten Rose” because they begin blooming around the time of Lent, hellebores will grow happily in a container or garden bed. In the garden, they thrive in semi-shaded areas. The hellebore is hardy to USDA Zone 6 (well below our Zone 8) and requires little care. To best enjoy the blooms, cut back most of the plant’s leaves in early winter, so the blooms will stand out. (You will also be freeing the plant from leaves that may be infected with fungus or blight. Don’t use the leaves in your compost pile.)

Coral Bark Maple

This is a small tree, growing to 12 feet and producing green leaves in spring. Into fall these leaves turn chartreuse and glow when the sun backlights them. During winter, the true beauty of this tree is its bright red bark. It grows well in a container or in the ground. It likes full sun and moist soil.

Sarcococca

Also known as “sweet box,” sarcococca will add fragrance to your garden this time of year. Its leathery leaves and tiny creamy-white flowers fill the air with a delicious fragrance. There are two types of sarcococca: a groundcover and a small shrub that grows about three feet high by three feet wide. The shrub is a slow-growing evergreen and can be cut back to fit your space. Plant in full sun to full shade. The plant likes its feet wet and is generally pest-and disease-free.

Azara

If you love the smell of chocolate, the boxleaf azara is a must-have. In the early spring, tiny, hardly visible yellow flowers crowd the stems of the azara and overwhelm the garden with its tantalizing fragrance. This Chilean shrub grows to 15 feet tall and six-feet wide.

Dogwood

We often think only of dogwoods in the context of their beautiful spring blooms, but there are many dogwoods that are prized for their colorful winter twigs. The Cornus sanguinea is a small tree that is shrubby because of its propensity to send out suckers. ‘Midwinter Fire’, in particular, will light the darkest corner of your garden with its yellow winter stems tipped with red. Many gardeners trim ‘Midwinter Fire’ back in spring to assure new red growth at the tips for next winter’s enjoyment. Equally vibramt options are the yellow-and red-twigged shrubs (Cornus sericea and Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’.)

Pink Dawn Viburnum

There are over 150 different viburnum plants, often with widely differing characteristics. Look no further than the ‘Pink Dawn’ viburnum for superb late-winter/early spring fragrance. With pale pink, highly fragrant blooms beginning in December, it is a great candidate for forcing branches into indoor bloom. Growing to eight feet tall and 10 feet wide, ‘Pink Dawn’ is a drought-tolerant specimen for the sunny garden.

You can find most of these shrubs and trees at local nurseries. They are also widely available through mail-order and online nursery companies. Take time to shop this spring and summer so your winter garden can offer beauty and fragrance.

Sources for this article include the Great Plant Picks website.

Lynn Tangvald lives in Aberdeen. She has been a WSU Master Gardener since 2002. Mary Shane, from Montesano, joined the Master Gardener Program in 1998.