MAHONIA? It shrubs up nicely!

Looking for something that will add a much needed dash of colour in the winter months but is as tough as old boots?

ACOUPLE of years ago I was driving on the A3 in Surrey when I made an unplanned stop at the Royal Horticultural Society’s flagship garden at Wisley. My deviation was due to an urge to explore its plant centre, and after a good rummage, I emerged with a calf-high specimen of Mahonia eurybracteata ‘Sweet Winter’.

The multi-stemmed, evergreen shrub with narrow, dark green leaves was later planted in a dimly lit spot close to my back door.

As I write this, the architectural gem stands 4ft tall and is topped with sprays of slightly fragrant yellow flowers. These make their debut in late October and last well into December.

In my opinion, ‘Sweet Winter’ is an elegant, tough and easy shrub that deserves to be more widely grown, but it’s certainly not the

A valuable source of berries and nectar for birds and bees

only mahonia worth veering off course to find. In fact, there are more than 100 varieties that possess striking foliage and colourful flowers, often delightfully scented.

Originating from the Himalayas and East Asia, as well as from North and Central America, mahonias grow in a wide range of habitats, including woodland and rocky places. They are a member of the berberidaceae family of plants, making them a close relative of berberis, epimedium and nandina.

Ranging in height from 18in to about 15ft, wild mahonias and their cultivated progeny are capped with masses of tiny flowers held in ball-like clusters, arching racemes or upright spikes.

The blooms tend to be yellow, though some plants have red or orange buds, helping to create a two-tone effect.

The flowers belonging to American species usually appear in the spring and are less showy than their Oriental counterparts, which decorate plants in autumn and winter. Apart from adding elan during the cold season, the latter are a valuable source of nectar for solitary bees, while birds will eat the berries that follow.

Mahonias have been gracing British gardens since 1823, when Mahonia aquifolium arrived from North America. This low-growing shrub and all those that followed it were named in honour of Bernard McMahon, an Irish nurseryman and gardening guru to Thomas Jefferson, the third US President.

Until recently, mahonias sported handsome but prickly foliage. That changed in 2013 with the launch of Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis ‘Soft Caress’, the first to have spine-free leaves.

In recent years it’s been joined by M. ‘Volcano’ and my aforementioned favourite, M. eurybracteata ‘Sweet Winter’.

These easy-going shrubs are happy in sun or partial shade and most will thrive in fertile, moist but well-drained soil. They are as tough as old boots and easily capable of withstanding temperatures

down to minus 15C or even lower. Nevertheless, cold winds can scorch flowers and foliage, so it’s best to find them a sheltered spot.

Plant mahonias in holes that are three times the width of the rootball and the same depth. Tall varieties are perfect at the back of borders or used as specimens, while mound-forming American types are useful for providing ground cover. Another option is to set compact, spine-free plants in large containers.

Keep them in order by pruning in mid-spring. With young specimens you need only remove dead growth, but over time, some will form sizeable clumps of lanky stems with bare bases. Encourage fresh growth from ground level by removing a few older shoots annually. Renovate neglected mahonias by cutting all stems back to 6in.