Anglesey Abbey Gardens - Shrubs & Trees

Pin It

This simple but effective planting of silver birches (betula utilis var. jaquemontii) nearly made it as my weekend feature but in the end I decided that Anglesey Abbey Gardens in winter deserved a second post.

Equally hungry for space (or at least height), would be a yew-lined path. 

 

Whilst you will need a biggish plot to recreate the above, the shrubs I am featuring today are suitable for much more modest gardens.

Witch hazel (hamamelis x intermadia) brightens up winter days with spidery yellow (sometimes orange or red) flowers which exude a spicy scent.

If you want to light up a shady area, than mahonias x media are a good (and evergreen choice). The spiky looking leaves are unusual and attractive in their own right. 

Best planted away from any children's play areas, white-stemmed brambles (rubus cockburnianus, pictured below) and winged thorn roses (rosa sericea sub-sp omeiensis pteracantha) look rather forbidding during the winter months.

 

If you struggle to be convinced that these thorny shrubs will be beautiful later in the year, then maybe the following picture of the rose in bloom will convince you.

photo credit: Burncoose Nurseries

Last but not least, for those of you that think that lightning does not strike twice, a glimpse of a tree in the gardens grounds struck twice by lightning within twelve years.