Christmas quiz answers

My answers to the Christmas Quiz, but you may be able to add more!

1. Name 5 shrubs or trees in the UK which flower in December.

• Hellebores
• sarcoccoca
• viburnums (bodnantense, tinus),
• roses (in a mild year)
• honeysuckle (Lonicera Winter Beauty)
• wintersweet (Chimonnanthus Pracecox).

2.  What's the latin name of the Christmas Rose?

• Helleborus Niger

3. How would you propagate mistletoe?

• Squish the mistletoe berries into a nick in the bark of a suitable host (e.g an apple tree) cover with moss, and hope for the best!

4. What's the meaning of ivy in the language of flowers?

                                                                            Fidelity

5. What is the common name of Sarcoccoca?

• Christmas Box

6. Name 5 flowers, trees or shrubs which bear red berries.

Iris foetidus

Rosehips

Cotoneaster

Viburnum Opulus (sadly gone, decimated by the enemy beetle)

Others:

• Holly
• Hawthorn
• Gautheria
• Pyracantha
• Skimmia

7. Spring and summer snowflake are varieties of which species?

• Leucojeum

8.  Which garden writer is the author of the book 'The Winter Garden'?

• Val Bourne

9. What colour are poinsettia flowers?

• Yellow - the red bits are bracts, not flowers.

10. What was your favourite flower of 2014?

• It's a tricky choice for me - my favourite new additions were dahlia 'Wittman's Best' and rose 'Savoy Hotel', but I couldn't choose between them.