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Saturday 8 November 2008

Evergreen Winter yellow flowering spiky leaved shrub: Mahonia

Baroness Delores Whittingham lives in a pretty village in the Bourne Valley. A keen socialite  'Dibbers' Whittingham is approaching her retirement with gusto. Since her husband died a few years ago she and I have changed the garden considerably giving the whole thing somewhat of a fresh look by adding a range of plants that would give us colour throughout the year in leaf and flower.

The Mahonia is an evergreen flowering shrub that we have added because it can give wonderful Autumn colour. Indeed it is not unusual for them to continue flowering until March with Yellow flowers appearing on spiky stems above green holly-like leaves.
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The Mahonia is a shrub that thrives best in dappled or full shade. Once planted they require very little maintenance and remain very healthy and disease-free in most soil conditions.

After flowering this hardy shrub  produces purple berries in clusters, which complement its glossy leaves
When planting Mahonia as with any shrub you should soak the root ball or submerge its pot in a bucket before you plant it and mix in a handful of fish blood and bone to your compost. Pruning should only be done after flowering has finished, but it is not generally required, except when it is necessary to remove dead stems. They are quite slow growing, but this particular variety Mahonia x media Winter Sun will eventually grow to approximately 4m

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6 comments:

Barbarapc said...

Unfortunately we can't grow M.x media here in Ontario - just M. aquifolium and repens. What a beautiful plant. Having something that colours for such a long period of time is remarkable.

simon davis said...

Hi Barbara, good to see you again. Yes really brightens up the dull winter days. Hope you get as much pleasure from your Mahonias as we do.

tina said...

I love mahonias! They are super good plants for interest in the winter and fall, and pretty easy to grow here in Tennessee (Zone 6/7). Thanks for sharing it and I hope the Baroness loves them too.

simon davis said...

Hi Tina, thanks for your comment.
Good to hear you are able to grow them in Tennessee. Yes the Baroness really loves Mahonias. Best Wishes, Simon.

Anonymous said...

Hi Simon, like Tina, we grow that mahonia in our part of Tennessee also. It is nearly an invasive here, popping up from bird planted seeds in those luscious blue berries all over the garden. Easy to identify and pull, but showing up in untended lots around us. Still a lovely plant and blooming when there is hardly anything with color.

Frances

simon davis said...

Hi Frances, interesting comment, obviously no problem with propagation in your part of the world, but I suppose they could be rather a nuisance when they start seeding everywhere. Best wishes, Simon.