Plants that are looking good right now

We spent this weekend looking after my parents nursery in Somerset and despite the horrendous weather (non-stop torrential rain), there was quite a lot in the nursery that is looking great right now.

As well as the last of the summer flowers, like the penstemon above, I thought I’d share a few pictures of those plants that are starting to steal the show.

Many viburnum will be coming into flower soon.  Viburnum tinus, above, is a great shrub for a spot where it’s challenging to get things to grow – it’s not really fussy and provides great evergreen structure and flowers well into winter, and sometimes in spring too.

Viburnum x bodnantense is another great winter flowering shrub.  It’s highly scented flowers appear on the bare stems.  In the nursery the buds were just about to open…

Some of the most dramatic shrubs at this time of year are those that change colour.  There are a few evergreen shrubs that have really vibrant red foliage. I have featured Nandina domestica before, but there is a dwarf variety called ‘Firepower’, which has really fabulous autumn colour.

Among the winter flowering shrubs is the Mahonia.  These are evergreen shrubs with dark green glossy and slighty spiky leaves with scented yellow flowers.  The Mahonia x intermedia in the nursery was just coming into flower.

There are lots of shrubs that look great at this time of year because they have contrasting foliage.  This ligustrum (Privet) is a new variety to me and is called ‘Lemon, Lime and Clippers’  I think because it has yellow and green foliage and is great for use as a low-growing hedge.

It’s not always about the foliage and flowers, berries also feature in autumn and winter.  This shrub, with violet purple berries, is called Callicarpa x bodinieri ‘Profusion’.  A very striking shrub for the garden.

And I’m going to leave you with one more image of the mini cyclamen which brightened up a very grey day…

What’s looking good in your garden at the moment?

Images: Lisa Cox