WASHINGTON GARDENER
Winter Plant Picks – Part Three
back. This can be done every 3-5 years or so. Plant them right away as the snowdrop is one bulb that hates to be left to dry out. WINTERSWEET
BY KATHY JENTZ The last few winters, we shared several plants in this column to add to your garden for flower, foliage and bark interest when the rest of the garden is bare and gray. Here are five more selections to consider adding — or adding more of — to your garden for winter interest and beyond. SNOWDROPS
Fragrant Wintersweet, or sim- ply Wintersweet ( Chimonanthus praecox ) is a pleasantly scented shrub that blooms in mid-win- ter through February. Its delicate flowers emerge along the stems before the foliage unfurls. The blooms are translucent and waxy. Ice and snow don’t faze them.
Snowdrops ( Galanthus sp. ) look delicate, but these tiny flow - ers are quite tough. The milk- white color of these small blooms is lovely set against a green back- drop of groundcovers or small shrubs. They are one of the earliest plants to flower in the Mid-Atlan - tic US. Their common name is a nod to the fact that they can come up through snow and ice and are not fazed by either.
Wintersweet does best in full to part-sun. It prefers moist, but well-draining soils. It is drought-tolerant once estab- lished. The shrub does not need fertilizing, although it appreciates a bit of shredded leaf mulch around its root zone in the late fall. It puts out multi-stemmed growth in a rough vase shape from 6–12 feet tall and wide. It can get a bit leggy, so a hard pruning to rejuvenate it and remove the old stems is recommended after the bloom cycle is complete. Wintersweet is originally from China. It does support pollinators, and birds will feast on its non-showy fruits. The shrub can take a few years until you see the first blossoms. To propagate it, take a softwood cutting or collect the seeds from those fruits. It may also self-seed. Note that the seedlings are often the straight species, which blooms
Galanthus nivalis is the most common snowdrop and widely avail- able in garden centers and plant catalogs. There are other varieties you can collect, and some can be quite pricey. Galanthus nivalis f. pleni - florus ‘Flore Pleno’ is a lovely double form and Galanthus ‘Atkinsii’ is known for the green heart-shaped mark at the top of the inner petals. Snowdrops are in the amaryllis family and grow from tiny bulbs. They are native to southern Europe and Asia Minor. They are hardy from USDA Zone 3 to 7. Like many early-blooming bulbs, they can be grown in deciduous shade spots, but not under evergreen shade. They prefer soil that is well-draining. Plant the bulbs in autumn about 2 inches below the soil level. They look best in masses and drifts. If you have an especially rare or inter- esting selection, then plant that in a spot where you can easily view it and keep an eye on it. If you have them planted in your lawn or among other perennials, let the snowdrop foliage die off naturally and do not cut it back pre - maturely. The energy for next year’s flowers is collected in that foliage. They do not generally need fertilizing, but you can give them a fertil - izer designed for use on tomatoes to encourage more rapid growth, if you like. Snowdrops increase slowly in clumps and it is worthwhile to dig and divide them after their bloom cycle and the foliage is starting to die
earlier in the cold season. WINTERBERRY HOLLY Winterberry ( Ilex verticillata ) is a small tree or shrub native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a holly, but is not evergreen. It can grow to 8 feet wide and high. Winterberry prefers full to part sun and wet, acidic soils. It is very happy when planted along the edge of a pond or lake. If they experience drought or too much shade, their berry production will decrease. The world needs your book
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64—PATHWAYS—Winter 24-25
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