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Winter-flowering shrubs for wildlife

Plant expert Claire Brown showcases her top three shrubs to bring wildlife into the garden.

The beginning of the year tends to be a time when we aren’t thinking about attracting insects into our garden, -they’re all hibernating aren’t they? - but if you havn’t seen any winter bees, it may be that you’re not providing them anything to feed on, and adding one of these 3 will help your garden become more interesting and scented in the darkest months of the year.

My top winter flowering shrub, has plenty of kick to its scent, which I can attest to having transported just one back from a talk I gave today.
Sarcoccoca is a small evergreen shrub, it can put up with dry soil, plenty of shade and almost neglect, and reward you with a whiff of perfume when you are well past it on any still winter day. I use it a lot for plantings in front garden, where an evergreen is needed. Sarcoccoca confusa my favourite and is slow growing, so plant a group of 3, near to but not on top of a path, to get a drift of fragrance on the breeze.

Viburnum tinus is rarely given the space that it needs to give of its full winter glory, and this is a major shame. Not only because this large shrub can be smothered in pink budded white flowers from November – March which bees love as a pollinator, but this bush can become a fantastic winter shelter, food and perch for whole flocks of birds. Plant one 3-5 metres away from your bird table and enjoy a constant stream of bird TV all winter long even when they’ve finished the small purple berries. If you must prune it, to keep it to a manageable size, - do so straight after flowering in early spring.

My last choice isn’t an evergreen, it is a shrubby honeysuckle Lonicera purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’. It will be a large shrub – 2m by 3m, and again will flower its best if it isn’t pruned, but is left to grow. (Hack it back and it only gives you strong leaf growth and no flowers). it is though amazingly fragranced, with a sweet, light perfume that isn’t too heady, and that you won’t be able to get enough of. During the summer, it is just a large green leaved shrub, so plant plenty of summer flowering perennials in front of it, - but used for a back corner of a border, it will enhance your winter garden from January to March and provide a great bee pollinator into the bargain.

Claire Brown is a Surrey based expert gardener and plantswoman. After 12 years of selling plants to the public as a plantcentre manager, she set up Plantpassion in 2004. She now indulges her passion of helping others to love gardening as much as her, by giving talks and workshops, and doing garden consultations to help people make their garden their own.

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One Response

  1. linda penney

    lovely blog just what i need to read as trying to re shape my front and backgarden but i hopeless at design ideas but at least i be able to focus on creating wildlife freindly plants and food for all wildlife

    Reply

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