Page 18 - Town & Around - February 2025

18 Town & Around February 2025 Tel: 01485 540620 email: editor@townandaround.net
Wendy Warner’s plant of the month - Mahonia

magine a few rays of low February sunshine catching sulphur open rosette. Smaller than this is Mahonia aquifolium ‘Apollo’ which
yellow flowers deep in the borders of your garden, wouldn’t that has a much more spreading, low growing habit with dense clusters of
Ibe lovely? We tend to have low level colour in the form of flowers, rather than spikes and the leaves are more bronze-green
delightful, early flowering bulbs such as snowdrops, aconites, crocus, turning bronze-red in winter. It will grow to approximately 60cm with
iris reticulatas and miniature narcissi, but there’s not much mid-height a spread of 1 metre and flowers from February through to April.
colour before the new shoots of deciduous shrubs break through. Totally different to most others, a relatively new variety, Mahonia
Mahonias can fill this gap. They are bold, architectural, evergreen, eurybracteata ‘Soft Caress’ has soft slender, bamboo-like foliage
hardy shrubs which in itself ticks quite a few boxes for a plant with all without spikes and flowers in late summer and autumn followed by
year round interest, but add to that yellow, frost-hardy winter flowers blue-black berries.
followed by blue-black berries and you have a winner! The leaves are Add a spark of brightness to your garden with a Mahonia, but be
made up of many leathery, green, holly-like leaflets along a central careful not to get spiked by it when you are gardening near it!
stem which tends to grow horizontally. Most varieties tend to be
upright in growth making them ideal back of the border plants creating
a focal point. Dependent on variety, in autumn or late winter the
flowers appear. These are clusters of tiny yellow, usually on long
flower spikes, forming rosettes which are held vertically above the
leaves resembling a golden crown. They have a sweet fragrance
similar to lily-of-the-valley and are attractive to bumblebees and other
early pollinators. Most will then produce black, blue or purple berries.
They thrive in moist soils that drains well and prefer a position in
light shade, although full sun and deep shade can be tolerated. They
should be allowed space around them so their beauty can be admired,
but dislike exposure to cold winds as this can scorch their foliage. Tall
Mahonias that become bare lower down can be restored by cutting
back to 20cm form the ground in late winter or early spring. They will
often bush out more as a result of this too.
Popular varieties include Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ which is one
of the largest growing to 4 metres tall with dark green leaves up to
60cm long with racemes of flowers up to 35cm long in late autumn
and winter. Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ has a similar form but is
more compact growing to 3 metres and the flowers stems form a more