28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours

Summary

On February 28th, explore the resilient beauty of evergreens and winter colours. Discover the discreet flowers of male yew trees and the vibrant foliage of conifers like Lawson’s cypress and Leyland cypresses. Learn about the unique growth habits and diverse cultivars of these trees, and uncover the surprising colours that emerge in the landscape as winter transitions to spring.

Join us for an enlightening journey through the evergreens that brighten our winter days and the subtle yet striking colours that signal the changing seasons. Whether you're a nature enthusiast or simply curious about the natural world, this article will captivate and inspire you

Article

Evergreens

Some evergreens and conifers are already starting to produce their discreet flowers. Male yew trees are among the most noticeable, producing their small, yellow flowers with enough pollen falling sometimes to colour the ground beneath the tree on still days. Parks and cemeteries often have a wide variety of conifers, particularly funereal-looking cypresses, with their columnar shape and various different coloured foliages. These trees do not have buds.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

Instead of forming next year’s shoot in the summer and protecting it through the winter inside a bud, they just pause where they were and then continue to grow again in the following spring. Lawson’s cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana in its many different forms is particularly abundant in the London area. It can often be recognised by its ‘flopped over’ leading shoot and the white lines on the under-surface of its leaves. It has over 200 cultivars, varying from blue to green, yellow and gold. There are even fifty dwarf versions. Some of these trees now have attractive red tips on the ends of their flattened branches. These are the male flowers.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

Leyland cypresses are also ubiquitous on account of them being used as quick growing evergreen hedges which Londoners plant to ensure they cannot see their neighbours. They are quicker growing than most Londoners realise, being capable of growing over a metre a year and continuing to over thirty metres in height in some cases. Even a cutting can reach 9 metres in ten years. The weeping Kashmir cypress Cupressus cashmeriana at Kew is arguably the most beautiful of all the cypresses.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

Other conifers worth seeking out at Kew this month are Pinus patula, and P. strobus for their leaves, Cryptomeria japonica Yoshim for its weeping habit and the Japanese plum pine Cephalotaxus haringtoma fastigiata, Japanese umbrella pine Sciadopitys verticillata and Pinus englemani for their general beauty.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

Colours

The landscape in February has the least colour of any month. By the end of the month, with sap rising, buds swelling, this starts to change. The predominant colours of wild flowers are white and yellow. Colour is supposed to be inversely proportional to scent; white flowers tending to have the strongest scents and deeply coloured plants such as chrysanthemums the least. Certainly this works for February, where few plants have deep colours and many have strong scents. Yellows particularly abound, primroses, coltsfoot, dandelion, daffodils and the sulphur coloured catkins of hazel are all examples. If the first butterfly of the year is a brimstone, this completes the various shades of yellow.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

In gardens this colour rule is more difficult to apply, with aliens and cultivars of every hue e.g. crocuses, pansies and anemones. Among trees, the early Prunus spp. starts things off with white to pale carmine flowers. This is followed by more and more pink cherries. More recently, acid yellow mimosa trees Acacia dealbata are surviving our milder winters better and growing taller and may even flower by the end of the month. Bramble and privet leaves are now at their most purple and magnolias at the end of the month provide a whole range of different purples.

One of the most surprising colours is the tiny deep crimson-coloured female flowers of hazel bushes. These along with snowdrops have also been called “fair maids of February”.

The courting colours of birds are generally much brighter and there is much more iridescence now in their plumage. Many birds have an extra sheen to their feathers in February. Even crows have their ‘raven’ sheen. Greenfinches are greener, long tailed tits pinker and the sharp colours of the jay are more defined. Bullfinches have a ‘rosier’ tint and even the blue-grey of herons can look almost lavender in the sunlight.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

The most common duck in London, the mallard, has as good a range of colours as can be seen anywhere. The males are now resplendent in their breeding colours. Their heads are now an iridescent bottle green set off with a white neck ring and acid yellow bill. They have chestnut breasts, grey backs and white tails with some tail feathers which are deep black as well as sharply curled. Beneath all this show there is a pair of carrot-coloured legs.

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image

28-Feb Evergreens and Winter Colours Section Image