A January menu of garden-worthy plants

While Easton Walled Gardens may be closed to visitors in January, there’s plenty of life that goes on behind-the-scenes. Our team are getting things ready for the months to come, while the gardens themselves of course remain filled with interest and beauty, particularly with an unusually mild December.

Stars of the season

January generally sees the first little winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) open their golden, cup-shaped flowers in the Woodland Walk, carpeting the ground in places, and really shining in the winter sun. This year they will be joined by the first Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) which are already coming into flower, their nodding blooms in a range of colours from purple to pure white, held on stems above the evergreen foliage. At Easton we remove these old leaves around Christmas time so that the flowers really stand out; cutting them off can also reduce damage from mice and voles that enjoy nibbling on the buds while hidden amid the foliage.

Also coming into flower soon are plants of that lovely shrub Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’, which as well as having glossy, gold-edged leaves features sprays of starry pink flowers that produce a powerful and delicious perfume. The first blooms open towards the end of the month and last well into spring. We also find this plant does well when grown for a while in large containers, allowing you to enjoy its wonderful scent whether its at the entrance to the gatehouse or near a back door.

Fruits, stems and spotty flowers!

Still looking impressive in the White Space Garden is a tree of Malus ‘Evereste’ which remains festooned with small but glowing, pinkish-red crab apples. This compact tree is a really good choice for smaller gardens, looking good both in spring (with white blossom) as well as during autumn and winter.

One of the most striking of all winter interest plants grows at Easton in the Velvet Border; ornamental bramble Rubus cockburnianus, its prickly, stark-white stems looking almost ghostly once the leaves have fallen. It makes a large thicket and needs to be kept under control (the stems arch over and root as they touch the ground) but it is a really dramatic plant, even on a dull day.

Nearby, and rather dainty, is climbing Clematis cirrhosa var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’, an evergreen with slender stems and in winter, masses of dangling bell-shaped flowers which are silvery white from above – the insides generously endearingly marked with reddish spots. It’s a good plant for a sunny wall or for growing through a shrub so that the flowers can be admired from below.

The Vinehouse Walk filled with evergreens at Easton Walled Gardens

Winter effects with foliage

It’s important not to ignore foliage at this time of year. Many evergreen shrubs at Easton are worthwhile planting for the beauty of their leaves in winter, including hollies, spotted laurel (Aucuba) and bold Fatsia japonica, a good plant of which flourishes in The Pickery.

Don’t forget conifers in their many shapes, sizes and colours: indeed in winter tints of many conifers become more intense with the cold, allowing them to really shine, while the cover these evergreen trees bring from the cold can also attract garden wildlife seeking shelter. Here at Easton, goldcrests are busy in the Yews and almost ignore us as we pass them.

Back in the Woodland Walk, glossy variegated leaves of Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’ are in fine flush, a low-growing, clump-forming perennial that while summer dormant starts into lush growth in late autumn so that by January is at its shining best. It is really useful as a foil when combined with evergreen ferns and of course snowdrops, some of which are already in bloom… but ready to reach their spectacular peak in February.