The Unsung Heroes

There would be little to see in the garden at the moment if it wasn't for the structure in the garden provided by some evergreens. They don't seem to get much of a mention in gardening blog community (except on foliage days which I keep missing) so lets have a look at some of the garden's unsung heroes.

We have two Griselinia Littoralis in the garden. They look good right through the winter with their glossy leaves and provide a great backdrop for more showy plants the rest of the year. They did well in Orkney too which was very impressive given the salt laden winds.

Next candidates for unsung heroes are from New Zealand.  Plants from that part of the world have always done well for us here and in Orkney unless we had incredibly low temperatures like last year.

The Astelia chathamica or silver spear is an architectural plant with striking silver and green sword like stems. It can be damaged during the winter but recovers well.

One of my favourites, Phormium tricolour  just gets better and better. It has a green, cream and pink stripes but never appears gaudy like some of the other varieties. It doesn't grow too tall (max 1.5 m) and seems undamaged by any amount of bad weather.

A close-up of the leaves.

Next is Garry Elliptica "James Roof". This is a shrub that I coveted in the years before I had a garden to grow it in. One grew over a wall near our family home. I was fascinated by it's combination of evergreen leaves and tassels that hung from the branches at this time of year. My only complaint about it is it does seem to grow so slowly...

Next we have ivy. Please nobody shriek in horror! There are so many different varieties and they have their uses. The shiny dark green leaves make lovely ground cover and protect the soil at this time of year. I'm careful not to let it run amock.

And last but not least there is that little gem Asarum european or wild ginger with it's very genteel spreading habit. I have had mixed success with it. One or two of our plants are bulking up and expanding well. Some of the others look decidedly sickly. But we will persevere. a healthy patch of wild ginger makes wonderful ground cover.

Apart from the bamboo,

the camellia

 and the castor oil plant

which I have photographed or written about before, there is one other bit of structure in the garden that adds so much and that is evergreens in pots. They can be moved around to add something to bare parts at this time of year. We always have some box and bay at the back door. It's all very symmetrical and gives a bit of order in an otherwise free flowing garden.

We also have viburnums in pots. The colour of the pots creates a contrast with the glossy leaves.