I recently visited Kew Garden’s new Winter Garden and was blown away by the colours and scents of winter.
Kew Gardens is one of the world’s major botanical gardens, but we didn’t expect to see anything in the gardens at this time of year. I went to see the exhibition with my daughter. But we both got hooked on a new winter garden that was recently planted.
It’s not a big space, but plants are brilliantly chosen and combined to create winter colours and scents when most gardens are grey and boring.
Plants are widely available and the way they are assembled works well in most gardens.
A great combination of plants for winter gardens! I never thought my winter garden would look very colorful.
You can see more gardens here in my Kew Winter Garden video.
Make the most of the slopes – Immersive Garden Layout
First, they used the slopes in a modern way.
Winter Garden is located on a small hill where it once held a flagpole. Now a wide curved path runs up the gentle hills, heading down again on the other side.
A winding pathway across the slope is an immersive way to plant on the slope, as it gives the feeling of walking through the planting. This is an approach that works very well with RHS Wisley’s new Oudolf Landscape Borders.
Some of them have just been planted and have not been filled out yet. However, the other areas were flames of colour, texture and scent.
The plant label had a date indicated when it was planted. This is useful as it gives you the idea of how long it will take to achieve the rich tapestry effect that you can see today. Winter Garden is only two years old, so it can have a moderate and immediate impact.
The planting was a combination of outstanding plants and clever combinations.
Winter trees and shrubs for bark color and structure
Let’s start with the trees.
They are almost all deciduous and mean that they lose their leaves in winter. It gives the shape of bark and carving.
Kew’s new winter garden is surrounded by beautifully pruned mature trees. This proves that you don’t need evergreens to have a winter interest, but you’ll invest in a good tree surgeon to create beautiful sculpture shapes. You can see how the path bends and winds up the gentle slope.
Winter colours don’t require evergreens or shrubs!
Interestingly, this winter garden didn’t have evergreens, but there were a few other ones.
There were some evergreen shrubs, but not many.
There is an assumption that evergreens and shrubs are needed for winter colour and impact. You can certainly create a beautiful garden of evergreen trees.
But Kew’s Winter Gardens show that deciduous trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter can add more winter colour than evergreens!
Prune them for the shape of the carving and choose according to the color of the bark.
At the entrance to the road are several established trees that have been beautifully pruned to assemble the border. If you are pruning trees, it is worth finding a really good tree surgeon and discussing what you want with them. Before calling the tree surgeon, look at what you need to know.
Select specimen trees for winter colours with bark
Then there were several standalone specimen trees planted with interesting barks, such as Prunus Cellula “Tibetica” (Tibetan cherry), so that the morning sun illuminated the peeled bark.
The Tibetan cherry (Prunus selular “Tibetica”) stands as a specimen tree. The distinctive skin bark is hardly bright in the low winter sun.
Group Trees for Modern Forest Effect
And then there was a group of Himalayan birches “jacquemontii”, whose white bark created a ghostly outline. This should be the ultimate winter tree.
This group of silver white ch, such as the Himalayan birch “jacquemontii”, creates a brighter effect on winter gardens. These are small areas and are very dense. This is less than three or four times the width and depth of a garden bench! Multith James’ silver white ch has even more impact than single stem trees. Trees planted nearby aren’t as high as a single silver birch, but they’re good in the town’s gardens!
Winter coloured shrub
Shrubs are woody stems that stay on earth all year round.
You might expect “winter coloured shrubs” to become an evergreen with interesting coloured leaves. But no! The shrubs in Kew Winter Garden were flames of color due to the stems.
The most famous coloured stem shrub was horns, and there were several different types of cues. The bare winter stems burn like dark red, bright orange and green fire.
Cornus Alba ‘Sibirca’ (Top) and Cornus ‘Midwinter fire’ (Top) (Top) were planted in groups for winter flames at Kew Gardens. The cornus will need a reasonable amount of sun in the summer to create these stunning winter stems. It is planted with a highly fragrant “Daphne Borua (above) and an evergreen euphorbia (above).
A clever combination and contrast
The corners also had good contrast with two different shades of Hakenochloa Macra or Japanese forest grass. Many of the area are rather shady in the summer, and most of these plants are shade enthusiasts at the edge of the forest. However, note that every corner needs a little more sun to get a vibrant stem color, so they are planted in places where they are not too shaded.
This is a recent planting of two shades of two shades with two shades of Japanese forest grass. In the foreground is Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, a bright yellow version of the Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa Macra). Afar, Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’ is partnering with a variety of versions of grass. This planting needs to be filled out, but I can imagine how wonderful it will be in a year or two.
Beautiful winter flower bulbs and perennial plants
The combination of bulbs and perennials in Kew’s Winter Garden was a masterclass in planting.
I absolutely loved the Snowdrop patch from Black Mondo, a type of black grass called Ophiopogon. The Snowdrop also worked brilliantly with hisreboles, especially the white hellebore known as the Christmas carol.
The garden is so new that some of the clumps have not been filled yet, but you can see how well the yellow winter aconite works in the snowdrops. I have a video on how to raise snowmen here. Most of these snowdrops are tall varieties, and this may be the reason why these groups look so good.
And there are some decorative grasses, which have lost their color, but are waving elegantly in the wind.
A clever combination and contrast
Blackmondgrass (Ophiopogon) and Snowdrop – especially a great combination with Silver Birch!
Snowdrops and Hereballs, especially white Hereballs. Another good combination you can see here is the snowdrop with winter aconite. (Eranthis) Learn more about growing snowmen in your garden here.
Best scented winter plants
Kew Winter Garden has some plants that are perfect for winter fragrances. They were planted near the path at intervals.
So we were greeted by a waft of gorgeous fragrance as we walked down the road. These are all easy care shrubs. If you plant it at home, plant it near where you’re walking.
Christmas Box (Sarcocca confusa)
A shrub that loves good shade with delicate white scented flowers. Around minus 20C/minus 5F it is hard and drought resistant once established. (Most drought-resistant plants need to be watered in the first summer until the roots are established.) It can tolerate most soils and is easy to grow.
Arrowwood ‘Dawn’ (viburnum x bodnantense ‘dawn’)
This includes attractive pink flowers that bloom all winter in mild climates such as the UK. In cold weather, it blooms from late winter until early spring, and is durable up to minus 26cminus 15f.
In my front yard, near the fence, I have the Weibanum “Dawn”. Passersby often comment on the glorious sweet scent.
Paperbush ‘Grandiflora’ (Edgeworthia chrysantha grandiflora)
This is a new shrub for me. In winter, yellow and white flowers are instantly impressive on bare stems. You need full sun or partial shades. And it is durable up to around minus 15c/5f.
“Grandiflora” means “big flower,” so shrubs planted in cue are a larger variety. But they were still very compact. The shrub we saw was about 3 feet tall, but it can clearly grow to 6 feet. This winter garden in Kew has been planted very recently, so many plants may not reach mature heights.
My friend The Horti_Culturalists recently created a YouTube video on how to grow Edgeworthia. It is generally simple and does not suffer from specific pests or diseases.
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)
The cue had several witch Hachel, including the well-known “Jelena.” The witch Hazel looks delicately beautiful and has a divine scent, but is extremely strong and survives to a temperature of 40°C/minus 40F. It is also very flexible in terms of the sun and shade.
Four of the best winter flowering shrubs for fragrance. Clockwise from the top left: Witch Hazel, Paper Bush, Christmas Box, Arrowwood “Dawn”.
This new winter garden in Kew continues to get better every winter. I can’t wait to return next year!
Pins to remember the best plants for winter colours and scents
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