It’s the first day of winter and I’ve just been for a walk around my garden. The last of the brilliantly hued leaves from the smokebush, berberis and weeping apricot were fluttering to the ground. The currawongs were calling from the trees and the scent of woodsmoke was in the chilly air. As some of the plants prepare to bed down for the coming season, others are just stirring to life. Winter shouldn’t mean a drab and colourless garden if you plan it properly.

Red Garden

It was with great delight I discovered an emerging flowerbud in my red garden on Aloe arborescens X ferox. I have planted this in a very dry area where many plants have succumbed over the last 10 years. It should be in full majestic flower by about July. Also starting to flower was Salvia gesneriflora which produces tall (20cm) spikes of fire-engine red flowers during the cooler months. My nandina cultivar called ‘Richmond’ has a good crop of berries which are just starting to develop their full colour; they make a great show for months because the birds never touch them. The leaves of Cordyline ‘Red Fountain’ look terrific too in a tall conical pot as do the leaves of a glossy red/bronze coprosma called ‘Walter Brockie’. As the cannas die back for winter the stems of the ruby chard grow taller to make a vibrant addition to the garden. The mounds of Cotyledon macrantha are sending up flower stems which will produce bunches of red/orange bell-shaped flowers that the honeyeaters adore. In this part of the garden I used to enjoy the red stems of the dogwood Cornus siberica and the coral bark maple Acer ‘Sango Kaku’ until they died due to the increasing soil dryness. I looked upon their removal as an opportunity to try new (and hopefully tougher) plants.

White/Silver/Green Garden

There is not a lot in flower here over winter, but the foliage of Cotyledon orbiculata continues to be a silvery delight contrasting with a strappy green dietes, a mounding cistus and a leafy butchers broom (Ruscus hypoglossum). The Cape snow bush Eriocephalus africanus has a few white flowers and lots of buds so it will continue to provide some interest. The older alyssums are still producing a few white flowers and the new crop of seedlings has just come up.

Yellow/Blue Garden

A large plant of Aeonium arboreum is starting to produce its large conical flowerheads. These yellow flowers will open in a few weeks time when they will be visited by a range of insects seeking their nectar. The only other yellow flowers are to be seen on Tagetes lemmonii but yellow highlights are visible on the variegated leaves of Yucca ‘Golden Sword’ and Euonymus japonica aureus marginata. I have a few blue salvias which are flowering and I hope will continue to do so for a few more weeks – maybe even a month. These are the cultivars ‘Anthony Parker’ and ‘Cookie’ and the species chamaedryoides. A summer deciduous clematis species called napaulensis is beginning to produce leaves and it will be flowering by July. Its flowers are a strange purple-green. The new growth of Euphorbia rigida is a lovely glaucous blue and contrasts nicely against the strappy green leaves of Dietes bicolour. A wonderful unknown rosemary cultivar has been producing deep blue flowers for a few weeks and will continue to do so for a few weeks more.

Pastel Garden

The tall stems of a tree dahlia soar overhead and my fingers are crossed that their lilac flowers will open before they are cut down by a hard frost. Some years they make it and some years they don’t. Its Dahlia imperialis and I recently planted Dahlia excelsa because I was told it flowered a few weeks earlier. Since I moved Phymosea rosea and watered it with (grey) water over summer, the bush has doubled in size and has been flowering for weeks. Its small crimson flowers don’t open all the way, but the plant is still worth having in the garden. The purple flowered form of Salvia leucantha doesn’t look like anything will stop its flowering and Salvia oxyphora is also continuing to produce its furry hot-pink flowers. The candy striped leaves of Phormium ‘Jester’ come into their own over winter when they don’t get scorched by the sun. Many of my hebes are budding up and should be flowering in a few weeks time. These include ‘Tui Spears’, ‘Wiri Blush’, ‘Wiri Joy’ and ‘Dobbies Delight’.

Australian Native Garden

Since some autumn rain fell (not enough – never enough) the plants in the Australian native garden have begun to stir into life. My possum banksia, Banksia baueri, has produced two huge furry flower spikes and a few more are on the way. The pincushion hakea Hakea laurina has been flowering for a few weeks and will continue for another few weeks. A variety of correas sometimes called native fuchsias are flowering profusely – they are such a great plant. I have yellow, pink, red, and white ones in my garden. Some of my emu bushes will be coming out soon particularly Eremophila ‘Winter Gold’ which will keep going almost until summer! I have a prostrate form of Acacia iteaphylla that is flowering now and in a pot I have a diminutive bush called Acmadenia tetragona which has just started to produce its tiny pink flowers. The native heath Epacris impressa and the happy wanderer Hardenbergia violacea will also be flowering in a few weeks time – something to look forward to.

So now is a really good time to see what is looking good in the nurseries, public parks, botanic gardens and in other people’s gardens; then you will know what might provide colour throughout winter for you in your garden.

Illustrations from top to bottom: