Crowning glory

Low-maintenance; handsomely evergreen; fragrant flowers: all these are attributes of the various kinds of mahonia, and all are exactly the sort of qualities you’d want from a winter-interest plant. Yet you are more likely to find this stalwart being described as ‘boring’, ‘spiny’ or, most damning of all, ‘a car park shrub’. “They do get a bad press,” agrees Fran Clifton, head gardener at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire. “But that’s because the more common ones are the big blobby evergreens with large spiny leaves. They can actually be extremely delicate in their foliage and they flower in different tones, from pale whites and creams all the way through to bright orange and fiery burnt marmalade. From a professional gardening point of view, they are extremely useful,” she continues. “They’re easy to look after, they’re evergreen, their beautiful corky bark is interesting and they’re insect friendly. Because their flowers don’t close at night, they attract moths, which, in turn, provide food for bats.”

If anyone understands the nuances of mahonia, it’s Fran, for the Hillier Gardens are currently home to a Royal Horticultural Society trial of mahonia. Some 100 different species and cultivars have been planted in beds for assessment four times a year as part of a trial that will run for at least five years. “This will let them really get going and show their full potential,” Fran explains. It’s a good chance to see plants side by side, especially newer cultivars.

Readers might recall the splash made by ‘Soft Caress’ when it was named Plant of the Year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2013, with visitors marvelling at its tactile leaves, quite unlike those of the mahonias we’re used to. A cultivar of Mahonia eurybracteata, a species from Southwest China, it has spine-free, silver-sheened foliage, with lightly scented yellow flowers from late summer into au