A warm, wet Christmas day in the Pacific Northwes- striking visuals in the garden include Witch hazel coming into bloom, Mahonia x 'Winter Sun', Viburnum farreri 'Nanum', Miscanthus flowers and paperbark maple are showy now, hellebores, snowdrops, and crocus to come soon-
Great photographs. I've particularly found these winter Viburnums difficult to get a good photograph of. Those paperbark maples are really flaky.
Wow Silver Creek, your Hamamelis ('Arnold Promise'?) is already in bloom. Mines are still all iced up. Greetings to everybody. Gomero
Since the Mahonia has somewhat droopy spikes I wonder if it's actually 'Charity'. The two were sold together for awhile around here, might've gotten mixed up. Regarding the witchhazel timing, I've got Chinese witchhazel out now. Maybe it is coming out before the turn of the year more often due to climate change. The growing season is now 2 weeks longer here.
The witch hazel is 'Pallida', which is sometimes listed as a form of mollis or chinese witch hazel. This is the earliest bloom we've seen, though it usually is in bloom by mid-January. The mahonia photo is of 'Winter Sun', a lower, interior flower; the uppermost, exposed flowers have some freeze damage so were not as photogenic. (Our Mahonia 'Charity' also had some damage on the exposed flowers while the blooms lower on the plant sheltered by the foliage are fine.)
Beautiful pictures silver creek. I just visited our local Nursery in the hope of picking up a Mahonia x Charity which I've admired outside the UBC 'Shop in The Garden', but they only had 'Winter Sun' available. Since you have both, how would you rate them in the fragrance department. Do you find one more fragrant than the other ?
I went out in the lovely weather today and did a sniff check on all my mahonias in bloom. Top rated (to my nose) is Mahonia bealeii - not as pretty a plant but incredible sweet, lemony fragrance. Mahonia Charity and Winter Sun are almost identical in fragrance. Mahonia Arthur Menzies seems to be the least fragrant in our garden, though still pleasant, but not as strong.
Yes what a glorious day. I hope Spring has sprung and we're not going to get snow in February. Thank you for doing the sniff test - I do understand about subjective noses, but now you've put me in a pickle and I'm going to have to find the bealeii. I have read that m.gracillis is the most fragrant.
It is interesting to hear of the different scents. I like both fragrance and form so I'm happy with my M. 'Charity' even though it hasn't bloomed yet. A few weeks ago we talked about the different Mahonias on this thread if you're interested. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=8063&highlight=mahonia+bealeii
We have a small mahonia gracilis, has not bloomed yet. I would try to see a mature mahonia bealeii before planting one- it really is not as attractive as the hybrids. Or plant it where you can smell it but it is not a focal point for the eye.
Thank you for the link Dee M. I try to restrict my acquisitive (not sure if this is a word) nature by going for fragrance first but in this case it was the form that actually interested me. I have a couple of seedlings from x Charity and have found an expensive source of seed for gracilis, so I think I will go for the 'Winter Sun' since it is so readily available. I will try to look for an established bealeii to check out it's form but I can live with ugly if it's a good wafter. Is the gracilis and bealeii readily available your side of the border ?
