Dec/Jan flowering potted shrubs for shaded garden?

Hello everyone!

I live in London and have a small garden with a side area. It's pretty shaded but could do with some plants to spruce it up. I was hoping to start with a couple of mid-size evergreen shrubs in pots, that hopefully flower between Dec - Jan... I know, specific

As you can probably tell I'm a keen novice hoping to get better to make our new garden brilliant by spring. I'm very excited because I have a couple of days off this week and have already prepped the area by chopping all the weeds back.

Thanks,

Jack

 

Skimmia are evergreen and winter flowering though I don't think they'll get going by January.

 

Hello Jack
Here's a link that might be useful. http://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/category.cfm?month=dec&page=1 Burncoose do a page for January too. As you'll be growing in pots, no problems growing acid-lovers if you want to. Just give them ericaceous compost and water with rainwater.

 

Thank you

Thanks very much! The only tricky bit there is rain water as I have no easy way of collecting it :-/ We do have a water butt that collects rain water, but our upstairs neighbour's water system for their roof terrace means tap water gets into it too.

I like the Camellia November Pink, that should bring some warm wintery colour to that part of the garden and for a good number of months by the looks of it.

 

Looking at that page, you might wonder why British gardens aren't a riot of tropical colour right through the winter - but they aren't. It seems a bit misleading to me and only about a third of the plants they mention, if that, could be expected to do the job you want done. There are lots of greenhouse -only plants in there, for example.
Tomorrow when I've got time I'll go through them and list the ones I think will do well in your containers.
There are some shrubs that will perform as you wish but there are not many winter-flowerers, those that do often flower in late winter, not Dec/Jan, and are generally very subtle, not gaudy pinks. Most of us just hope for neat and tidy evergreens!

 

Camellias are a lot more forgiving than rhododendrons If the tap water there is very hard, you could get round it by giving your plants a drink of well-diluted MiracleGro ericaceous fertiliser from time to time. Other brands are available.....

 

Haha, I was wondering why gardens are so drab in the winter when there seem to be so many flowers on offer Thank you if you do have time but please don't go out of your way for me.

I'll be happy with neat and tidy evergreens as well

 

Bear in mind that they'll be growing in a sheltered London garden, Madahhlia! Even if Jack sticks to bone-hardy shrubs, there is Mahonia, Erica, Viburnum, or even Helleborus niger! One of my favourites is Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'. Gives a lovely glow right through the winter months. Or, until it outgrows it's pot, Arbutus unedo rubra. Flowering or fruiting for ten months out of twelve.

 

Try Sarcococca (sometimes known as Christmas box). It's a compact evergreen, flowers in mid-winter, has a lovely fragrance and doesn't mind shade. Should fit the bill perfectly.

 

How about Daphne?
http://www.portlandnursery.com/plants/shrubs-vines/daphne.shtml

 

Welcome to GC, Jack

 

Mahonia. I have seen these in pots before, not sure how long before it outgrows a pot though.

Rusty

 

As well as the excellent suggestions already made, here are the ones I picked off the list. I quite fancy Noisette's suggestion of a tub of Dogwood. A mass of deep red, lime or yellow stems would be a fine thing to look at in winter. Would be very bushy when in leaf, some have variegated leaves.

Garrya elliptica - grows big, some people love the grey catkins
Mahonia - mine's flowering right now but it is big. There's a smaller variety but it flowers in March. Horribly prickly. M. japonica probably more suitable.
Erica - low growing, needs light
Lonicera purpusii (not evergreen)- small sweet flowers in Feb/March. Grows big.
Rosemary (does not flower in winter AFAIK) Good, neat evergreen. Easily clipped. Edible!
Ulex (gorse) -tough evergreen, said to always have flowers on, may not look neat.
Viburnum tinus - tough, grows big but easily pruned, neat looking when pruned, pleasant pink flowers in early spring if you haven't pruned them off.
Viburnum Dawn- big, leggy but nice scent.

Is the side area visible from the inside of the house? If so, I'd go for neatness as a priority as it's depressing to look out at messy shrubs on dark winter days. If not, you could be a bit more adventurous.

I've not commented on camellias and rhodos because i don't really grow them, but I'm sure other members will know about them. My one camellia certainly does not flower in Dec/Jan, but maybe some do. I think the flowers would be very vulnerable to weather conditions, though.

 

Hi Jack & welcome!

It's worth considering shrubs with brightly colour berries too. Then you can get a splash of colour and feed the local bird population too!

I have Viburnum Dawn and it flowers all winter and smells divine.

 

Wow, you are all so helpful! This is great - thank you everyone for the welcomes and the suggestions

I like the Viburnum tinus and the Dogwood - the dogwood in particular is interesting because it looks so different in winter and summer and is quite unusual. I have three 10 ltr pots at the moment, so I might go for two of one and one of the other for now.