Leucothoe - Celebrate Christmas with plants this year!
Celebrate Christmas with plants this year! Use them as decorations inside and out; give them as gifts to friends, family and neighbours. Most of all, enjoy plants and nature this winter, and if your garden falls a little short of prefect, plan some planting that will lift it for next winter.
Using plants as living decorations helps us to get back to some of the roots of the Christmas celebration. Our ancestors understood the symbolic and practical significance of foliage and berries in the bleak mid-winter and the deep-seated responses that we still have to plants means that wonderful displays awaken in us feelings of comfort and well-being.
Considering plants as ‘Christmas crackers’ also includes giving them as gifts. A beautiful shrub in a stylish pot is a fabulous way of showing you care, and anyone with outside space (even a balcony!) will benefit from a gift like this.
What qualities does a plant need to make it great for winter interest or as a living decoration or gift? It must be hardy and attractive, even during the most hostile weather of the year. It must exhibit exciting visual features like colourful foliage and it helps if it is a low maintenance plant because the winter garden really needs to be able to look after itself!
Evergreen Leucothoe species, including Leucothoe SCARLETTA ‘Zeblid’ are an excellent choice. ‘Zeblid’ has beautiful foliage – long, slim, glossy leaves that turn burgundy and bronze in autumn and winter. Although it can reach to between 1 and 2m in height, if it’s kept trimmed, it will form a lovely dome-shaped mound and can work very well as a ground cover plant. It thrives in acid soil, so if you want to grow it in pots and containers, make sure you use ericaceous compost. A small evergreen shrub such as Leucothoe SCARLETTA planted in a container is excellent for use on a patio, roof terrace or small garden. It can work well as a focal point or as part of a group of containers.
So whether it’s to brighten up the dash out of the house in the morning, improve the view from the window or make those forays into the garden on fine days more enjoyable, let’s all get more winter interest into our gardens this year. Whatever plants you choose to help you do this, Leucothoe SCARLETTA will get you off to a great start.