Wildlife Photograph

Winter Blooms

Tuesday January 16, 2007
Do you make a habit of visiting Ijams in the spring to see all of the beautiful blooms? Try it in the winter! Read here to learn what you might see.

With its short, cold days, and somber lack of verdure, it’s easy to think of winter as the dreariest season.  After the brilliant displays of autumn and the promise of Spring redivivus, winter may indeed seem bleak.  But if you look closely, you may notice a few defiant blooms bringing color and cheer to the winter landscape.

There are many non-native plants that can brighten your winter garden: winter jasmine, mahonia, hellebores, winter honeysuckle, and cyclamen will all produce lovely cold-weather flowers.  But there are also a couple of native winter bloomers that you should get to know. 

Witch hazel (Genus Hamamelis) is a native woody perennial, sometimes defined as a tree, sometimes as a shrub, famous for its showy yellow flowers.  There are several varieties of witch hazel, most of which bloom between January and March – just when we need them most!  Hamamelis Virginiana, or Virginia witch hazel, blooms a little earlier, leading some to call it the autumn witch hazel.  Look for clusters of brilliant bright yellow or orange petals on a shrubby (20’ to 30’ tall) tree.  Witch hazel would make a welcome guest in any local garden; because it is a native, it is well adapted to the climate and soil of East Tennessee.

Less well known is the delightfully named harbinger-of-spring (erigenia bulbosa).  As its name implies, this small herbaceous plant blooms in late winter, usually in February or March.  Tiny white flowers appear on the end of a 3 to 4 inch stalk, surrounded by delicately divided leaves.  In the center of each white flower you will see dark brown – almost black – anthers.  This black-on-white appearance gives the plant its other popular name: pepper-and-salt.

So don’t despair; don’t let this be the winter of your discontent!  You needn’t wait for the efflorescence of spring if colored blossoms are what you seek!  On your next winter walk look for the beauty – and color - of winter in our native winter flowers.

References:                                                                                   Bir, Richard E.  Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants.  The University of North Carolina Press.  Chapel Hill and   London.  1992                                                                                                                                          Hunter, Margie.  Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee.  The University of Tennessee Press.  Knoxville, Tennessee.  2002

 


Back To News Releases