Winter interest for raised bed

[chrisdb]

Hi, I was hoping for some plant suggestions.

The scenario is that my current project is a 6.4m long, 0.5m high and 0.7m deep brick raised bed along the wall of an outbuilding opposite our kitchen and dining room window. The original reason for the project was to have a herb bed within striking distance of the kitchen. I do have herbs scattered around the garden, but my dear wife isn't always good at finding them.

But since 6.4m is a lot of space to devote to herbs, I've also decided to add some ornamentals. I'd like colour and scent for the summer, when we have barbecues next to the new raised bed, and colour visible from the house for the winter.

Some details about the raised bed:

1. It's sunniest on the western side and shadiest on the eastern side, but most of the length gets decent sunshine
2. The western side is most visible from the house windows
3. The wall it is next is single storey and has windows in it, so nothing should exceed 2m and shrubs / plants under the windows can't really exceed 1m

Based on this, I've divided the plan into:

1. Western side = plants with winter colour visible from the house
2. Centre = summer interest
3. Eastern side (least visible) = herb bed

I don't have any problems with the herb bed, and for summer interest I already have:

1. a number of roses
2. honeysuckle Rhubarb and Custard, supposed to be a smaller climber than the species. From the raised bed I'll train it up the wall behind to 2m, between the windows.

What I'm struggling with is shrubs for winter interest. I do have a winter jasmine, which has yellow flowers in the winter, for another segment of wall, but I'd like some other small shrubs that give winter colour and would fit with the fairly formal feel of the line of roses and herbs that will make up the rest of the bed.

So can anyone suggest shrubs or plants that:

1. Are colourful in winter, late autumn and/or very early spring, the depressing part of the year
2. Are narrow enough to fit in the raised bed (<1m wide)
3. Are less than 1.5m tall, and <1m under the window
4. Would fit the neighbouring plants (roses, herbs, honeysuckle and jasmine)

[Jay-ell]

Grape Vines? OK, they wont give winter cover but in autumn you can have a wall of flaming red leaves and with the sun and heat from the building you might even get a nice crop of those round things that are supposed to grow on them.

Dogwood - looses the leaves but you get the colour from the stems, vibrant reds or yellows I believe. Just keep them pruned to the desired height.

Pansies, snow drops, - with everything else loosing it's leaves lower level plants might have a chance of using up the winters sun

Witch Hazel - I think this a winter flowering thing as well

Bamboo - Again colourful stems. Look for clumping rather than running varieties and hedge your bets planting them in a large tub with the bottom cut out to make sure they don't run.

Well, that's my knowledge of flowers exhausted

p.s. Himalayan honeysuckle seems to keep it's stem green colour up till feb when I usually hack it back - lovely flowers, white petals with red calyx hanging down in cascades. And if you can get to them before the birds dark ripe berries that taste of treacle & chocolate.

[nickdub]

Sarcococca confusa
Osmanthus delavayi
Cotoneaster horizontalis ( for the Autumn leaf colour and berries)

[Jay-ell]

Babington leeks - who isn't interested in leeks in the winter.

Anyways, you can just snip the stalks off and leave the bulbs underground and they'll grow back.

During winter they'll produce leaf and help cover the ground.

At this time of year they are just starting to throw up their flower stalks which can grow 4 - 6 foot tall and topped by lilac/purple balls of flowers which make way to small bulblets growing on top of the flower stalk - how about that as a talking point in the late summer.

[veggiechicken]

Pieris japonica - maybe a variegated one?
Camellias - mine flower from Nov to April
Lavender
Variegated Eleagnus
Holly

Lots of bulbs

[chrisdb]

Grape Vines? OK, they wont give winter cover but in autumn you can have a wall of flaming red leaves and with the sun and heat from the building you might even get a nice crop of those round things that are supposed to grow on them.

They're a bit too vigorous though. The two climbers I've got are supposed to be maintainable at more or less 2m. I've got a Boskoop Glory grape-vine down the garden, and keeping that at a reasonable size is a constant fight.

Dogwood - looses the leaves but you get the colour from the stems, vibrant reds or yellows I believe. Just keep them pruned to the desired height.

Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' might be a good idea, but people seem to disagree about the size of it. I guess the question is how easy is it to trim to size without ruining the effect.

Pansies, snow drops, - with everything else loosing it's leaves lower level plants might have a chance of using up the winters sun

I'm definitely planning to underplant with low growing bulbs and perennials as well.

Witch Hazel - I think this a winter flowering thing as well

Bamboo - Again colourful stems. Look for clumping rather than running varieties and hedge your bets planting them in a large tub with the bottom cut out to make sure they don't run.

Witch hazel gets quite big though, doesn't it? And the same for a lot of bamboos, and most of them aren't that interesting from a colour perspective.

[chrisdb]

Sarcococca confusa
Osmanthus delavayi
Cotoneaster horizontalis ( for the Autumn leaf colour and berries)

I did consider sarcocca, but the flowers are very small and otherwise it's a pretty dull dark green. I have a couple elsewhere in the garden.

Osmanthus gets quite big eventually if unpruned. And again, it's a bit dull colour-wise.

Cotoneaster... might be a good idea, but I can't stand the sight of it. Not sure why.

[chrisdb]

Babington leeks - who isn't interested in leeks in the winter.

I actually have some elsewhere in the garden. I started with a couple and they've dropped so many bulbils that I now have quite a decent sized clump. I had to pull some up to keep them contained... which wasn't easy since the bulb is buried a decent distance underground.

[chrisdb]

Pieris japonica - maybe a variegated one?
Camellias - mine flower from Nov to April
Lavender
Variegated Eleagnus
Holly

Lots of bulbs

Both pieris and camellias need acid soil, don't they? I've filled the raised bed with the contents of my compost heap and some bought top-soil. Eleagnus and holly are probably a bit too big unless trimmed a lot, and I'm not sure that's the effect I'm going for.

The bulbs are definitely a good idea as underplanting for the shrubs.

[Jay-ell]

How about elephant garlic - all the same stuff goes except white flowers and no bulbils.

For summer interest Molly has dainty little yellow flowers (unusual for an allium).

Chives make a nice colourful patch at this time of year - Black Isle Blush has a delicate shade of pink with the centre purple. Could blend the herb into the summer interest.

The Sand Leek is in flower during summer and in leaf during winter. 2' tall stems with purple flowers rising from between fat, deep purple bulbils.

As you can probably tell, I'm not really a flower person so I'm falling back on things to eat with nice flowers

[veggiechicken]

Both pieris and camellias need acid soil, don't they? I've filled the raised bed with the contents of my compost heap and some bought top-soil. Eleagnus and holly are probably a bit too big unless trimmed a lot, and I'm not sure that's the effect I'm going for.

The bulbs are definitely a good idea as underplanting for the shrubs.

No idea about pieris' needs. My plants get what they get, like it or lump it.

[chrisdb]

Another thing that might work is the mezereon, Daphne mezereum. It flowers very early, but I'm a bit hesitant to plant it next to the house since it's highly poisonous and we have a little one running about.

[Ani]

Winter flowering heather. You could take inspiration from Bressingham gardens:

Google images

We have some in our north-west facing front garden (shady and damp in winter) and it is fine. We have acidic soil, though. But I guess it would be fine in neutral. Or you could add some ericaceous compost to your bed.

[SelkirkAlex]

helebores?

[chrisdb]

The effect is nice, but I think I would need heathers that tolerate neutral soil. I'm not a huge fan of trying to modify soil to be more acidic because if the underlying soil isn't acidic I think the effect decreases over time, which means you need to keep doing it.

I've been thinking of leaving a gap for now and wandering around the garden centre in the autumn when they've stocked up on winter fare.