Mahonia – blooming marvellous
Mahonia are a great choice for winter colour and scent. They are a tough plant that handles the cold like no other. Hardy, very low maintenance and in flower from October through to the spring. There is little out there that can hold a candle to the flower on a winter’s day.
Mahonia are happiest in a shady spot in a well drained soil and like most evergreen plants will benefit from a mulch in the autumn and an application of slow release fertiliser in the late spring. There are few pests and diseases that affect Mahonia, so they really are a great plant to plant in the garden providing evergreen foliage and of course, winter colour.
Mahonia aquifolium is in fact little known for its flowers and more for the foliage colour that becomes tinted red and purple in the winter. A great plant for growing under tree canopies where the soil is dry.
Mahonia eurybracteata Soft Caress was awarded Plant of the Year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show back in 2013 and ones you have laid eyes on it, you will know why. Soft Caress is a compact, mound-growing form reaching about 1.2m in height. In the winter months bright yellow flowers are freely produced against the spine free leaves.
Mahonia eurybracteata Sweet Winter is another spine free option with leaves that are more widely divided than Soft Caress and that emerge red in the spring. Fragrant yellow – green flowers are freely produced in the winter months.
Mahonia nitens Cabaret is the new kid on the block with flame orange-red buds and yellow flowers produced in the winter months. If you have a dislike for Mahonia, this is the one to change your mind. Height 1m.
Mahonia x media Charity is probably the most well known of all the Mahonia. Pure yellow flowers, delightful in scent and dramatic in the yellow cheerfulness when in bloom. Height up to 2m
Mahonia x media Winter Sun is a taller growing option with the trademark yellow scented flowers in the early winter. Height 2.5m
Whichever you select Mahonia is sure to do you proud over the next few months.
Soft Caress Sweet Winter Cabaret Winter Sun
