Trees...Shagbark Hickory, Black Tupelo (90 degree angled branching), Sycamores...etc.

I've recently fallen in love with some "patio" which I guess is just another word for "standardized" Indian Hawthorne. Saw them recently at Cameron's Nursery. They had two sizes, one being about 4' tall and the other about 5'. My father gave me a bonsai of one many years ago so I can attest to their ability to survive very harsh conditions. I am going to get two but I would really love to have a row of them. It would be nice to have something more formal to give structure to my unruly and rambuctious gardens. I think they would have a lovely look as a specimen planting also. Adele

I like Buddleias and tea roses in winter.

one of my favorite is the red and yellow twig dogwoods
I like to leave my perrenial for the seed heads for interest and the birds.Ilex are nice viburnums, sedums
so many nice plants for the winter garden.

My winterberries (Ilex 'Sparkleberry' and its kin) are my favorite. Others include:

- well-pruned Vitex (nice branch structure)
- Lespedeza 'White Fountains' (in winter, it springs back up into a vase shape)
- Mahonia (yellow flowers and nice fragrance)
- ornamental grasses (although Miscanthus 'Gracillimus' tends to fall apart by January)
- trident maple (cool bark)
- Halesias (cool bark)
- Stewartia psuedocamellia (cool bark)
- Geranium macrorrhizum (stays partially evergreen and turns cool colors)
- Iris reticulata (earliest perennial bloomer)

I used to have a nice heirloom camellia that would bloom in winter, but it often got zapped by the cold and after battling scale for a number of years, I ripped it out and planted Edworthia chrysantha in its place. This will be its first year to bloom. I'm really looking forward to it.

I enjoy my Star Magnolia, Magnolia Stellata, which has just lost its leaves, but has small fuzzy buds on the tips of each branch. Mine (one hour north of Charlotte) blooms all during the month of March. When in bloom, it looks like the snowflakes I remember from up north. Nancy

Don't forget the little guys such as Hepaticas and Hexastylis. The gingers really shine out in the woods when everything else is mostly gone. Christmas and marginalis ferns stay nice. Oh, and although I prefer the natives, I adore Autumn fern, epimediums, rohdeas, and edgworthias.

Hellebores.
Camellias.
Pansies.
Winter honeysuckle.
Hollies, both the evergreen and the deciduous.
Beech trees, and the oaks that hang onto their leaves.
The winter branch structure of good weeping Japanese maples.

I hope my new Edgworthia will flower - I got it from the friend who gave me the first one I have, as a baby this spring and planted it somewhere MUCH more sheltered from winter winds. The original has had its flower buds frozen or wind blasted for the past 3 years! I guess I could move it....

daphne odora! winter wouldn't be the same without it. in addition to the gingers and hepaticas rescue mentioned, i like the winter foliage of hardy cyclamens. oh, and putty root- tipularia discolor, really shines in winter. my holly fern is divine. i love all the early bulbs. the big white species crepe myrtles at jcra are gorgeous. my eucalyptus is pretty interesting- grey til a hard hard freeze, then pink and with neato peeling bark. i like the small reddish leaves my roses have in winter, and how so many things get tighter leaf forms or go bronzey- georgia blue veronica, delosperma, loropetalum, azaleas, roses, sedums, and others. i love how neat and clean everything seems in winter (well, once all the leaves have fallen and we gather them & mulch). i guess a bunch of that stuff isn't really shrubs or trees. sorry.

In addition to some of the things already mentioned (esp edgeworthia), I really like Corylus avellana 'Contorta' and coral bark maple. For great bark texture I like Physocarpus, cherries, paperbark maple, and I just bought a lace bark pine that I'm pretty excited about. I've got lots of pictures from the winter garden filed away somewhere that I'll post if I can find them.

ooh- i forgot i bought a corolopsis something (a pendant version) at camellia forest this fall i'm excited about. i have got to try edgeworthia again- i think they are so stunning. i'd planted mine where some daphne had flourished and died at 8 yrs old, not realizing that they are in the same family, and lost it within a year- so word to the wise, don't do like i did!

Forgot Yuccas, Iris unguicularis, Euphorbias, Pieris, Aucuba, Danae racemosa, Carex Evergold, and did anybody mention the witch hazels? I've got the first tiny bit of yellow showing already on the buds of Arnold Promise. And there are still salvias in full bloom.

Little Gem Magnolia, Carolina Laurelcherry, Sable minor, Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Rosemary, Camellias, Fatsia japonica, Magnolia virginiana, Quercus virginiana, Fejia sellowiana

Spazzycat, could you give a few tips on the right way to prune vitex? I have three baby ones that I'd like to get off on the right foot.

I actually adore my grasses in winter - like massive dry flower arrangements! And then there are the pots and pots of pansies and violas that bloom right through frost and freeze. They are not unusual but they are so pretty.

lindakimy,

I don't think there's any right way. I wanted a multi-trunk tree instead of a roundish shrub, so I selected three branches to keep based on a vase-shape, cut out all the other trunks, and pruned the side branches up to about 4'. The tree still sends up suckers, but a once or twice year pruning takes those out.

Thanks, Spazzycat. I like the multi-trunk look, too. I figure I'll have to nip off small branches down low so that they are more "tree" than "shrub". Besides, I have things planted down there that will want some light.

I've researched a little and it seems that January through March will be the time to prune. I have such high hopes for these little trees - one, especially, that has a place of honor in my "next to the house" bed.

I am intrigued by a variety of abelia called "kaleidoscope" which has beautiful variegated foliage at this time and all year. It has a pending patent being introduced in 2006. Certainly, beautiful in the garden!

It is indeed lovely. We have a small one at a garden where I volunteer. It was donated by the company that is patenting it, and we are testing it. It has been in the ground three seasons and is fine. Of course, it did not grow much this last season due to lack of rain, but it is still lovely. Watch for it next spring in nurseries.

Lovely suggestions!! This will give me a list of plants to google after the holidays, once 'real' winter sets in!

Loving the mild temps but need winter to bring the spring!

My Prunus Mume "Peggy Clark"... all the leaves are off now and the bright green branches are covered in buds that are starting to swell, always look forward to Jan/Feb when they burst open to pink flowers with the most spicy clove scent no matter how bad the weather is....

Love my winter daphne. The fragrance in Jan / Feb is so wonderful and the foliage stays beautiful all year round. I hear they are difficult to grow, but mine are 7 years old and have no problems yet.

Also love autumn ferns which stay evergreen and continue to show some color variation throughout the year - easy to grow.

My new favorite is a coral bark maple against a blue winter sky. It is bright red now that the cold has hit it.

I know this is off topic but had to chime in with my experience after several posts mentioning Daphne. I had gone thru 3 plants trying to establish them and no matter how much care I gave, or how little I tried to interfere, they always limped along for one growing season before giving up the ghost at the end of the year. Finally, I decided ONE more try at this wonderful plant. I dug out an area about 4' around and 2' deep and backfilled it with sand and just a touch of mushroom compost and planted ONE more Daphne... well it's done quite nicely looking happy as a clam and now putting out fat buds! Just one more mans opinion to possibly aid those of us who are Daphne challenged, lol.

twisted- search some old threads for daphne and you'll see you're not alone. they are picky but worth it. now that you have this one happy, i'd highly recommend working on getting another one going in a another spot, because typically they'll last about 5-8 years before they very suddenly succumb to the fungus that's endemic here. daylily- congrats, but you've been warned! couple yrs ago i was bragging on mine living 8 years and i lost it the very next year. i've only seen or heard of 3 or 4 around here that have made it past around that amount of time living. by succession planting you always have one to enjoy. once you have success with one, you'll be addicted and always want them. some folks are having good luck keeping them in insulated containers- which is what i think i'm going to do the next time i find one on sale. big boxes mark them down at the end of winter when the general public doesn't know what they are and so only buy them while blooming. makes for good buys for those with sharp eyes!

every single, solitary time i see a coral bark maple i lust after them. i am going to HAVE to get one soon. they are sooo pretty. only question is where to squeeze it in where i can ogle it all winter long. :)

**Tamelask.........only question is where to squeeze it in where i can ogle it all winter long. :)**

Wow, do I understand that problem!!! There's only so much room near or easily viewed from the house!

I tried daphne once and it croaked in a few months. I'm trying an edgeworthia now and am so excited it has buds!!!

My edworthia is 9+ yrs. old and appears to be going strong. I have two other younger ones that were grown from cuttings...easy to do, they say. My original daphne was over 8, is now gone, and I was lucky enough to find some for $2 about six years ago. Bought four, and I still have three of them. I also bought a white daphne which I have had several years, but it did not bloom last winter. I am not sure why I have had good luck with these plants as I certainly have lost a ton of other things!

For Daphne in my garden I can you give a numerator, but I've conveniently forgotten the denominator. One other plant that's great for winter is Calluna vulgaris. It's not supposed to like heat and humidity, but I've got two that have stayed with me, one with yellow winter foliage and one with red.