Winter doesn’t have to mean a dull garden. With the right selection of plants, you can enjoy colourful flowers, beautiful scents and valuable food for wildlife throughout the colder months. Here are ten of our favourite winter flowering plants to brighten your garden from late autumn through to early spring.
Daphne
Daphne bholua and Daphne odora flower from late winter to herald the spring. Their small pinky-white flower clusters have an amazing scent that can stop you in your tracks. They like a warm, sheltered position in partial shade.
Clematis cirrhosa
Hardy evergreen climbers with nodding flowers in pale white or pink, often speckled. They provide pollen for any bees that emerge on a warm winter’s day. ‘Wisley Cream’ flowers from January to March with nodding cream flowers, while ‘Freckles’ has speckled pink flowers from November to February.
Erica
Winter flowering heathers are wonderful low-growing plants that flower in shades of pink and white for long periods. They prefer acid soil but can also be grown in pots of ericaceous compost. With careful choice of cultivars, you can enjoy flowers from early winter right through to late spring.
Galanthus
Snowdrops are the harbingers of spring. They are happiest in woodland settings or beneath deciduous trees and shrubs, where their little nodding, bell-like flowers shine. They will even push themselves up through frozen, snow-covered ground.
Hamamelis
Witch hazel is a scented winter flowering shrub with distinctive spidery-shaped flowers. The blooms brighten dull winter days, covering bare branches and filling the air with a spicy fragrance. Cultivars are available in shades of red, orange and yellow. It looks stunning underplanted with Cyclamen coum and snowdrops.
Hellebores
Often called Christmas roses, hellebores are winter flowering perennials. Their elegant nodding flowers come in shades of pale green, white, cream and pink. The handsome evergreen foliage can be cut back each winter to reveal the buds and flowers, with fresh new foliage appearing in spring.
Sarcococca
Small evergreen shrubs with tiny white flowers. Like Daphne, these flowers pack a scented punch and from January will fill the air with their sweet fragrance. Plant them in semi-shade near your front door so you can enjoy the scent every time you come and go.
Skimmia
Wonderful cold season plants. Tight bud clusters appear in autumn, last throughout winter and open into small star-shaped flowers in spring. They have separate male and female plants, so to produce berries on female plants you will need a male variety nearby. They prefer acid soil, so if you garden on chalk they are best grown in a pot.
Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’
A medium-sized shrub with glossy dark green leaves. During winter it is covered in profusions of white flower clusters with hints of pink, followed by purple-black berries. It is ideal for a shady spot and is almost drought tolerant once established.
Pansies and Violas
Ever-popular annual bedding plants, available in a rainbow of colours. They will flower through all but the harshest winter weather. Deadhead them regularly and they will continue flowering well into spring. The smaller flowered violas generally perform better during the worst winter conditions.
Continue your Gardening Journey
Need a little extra advice? Visit your local Tates of Sussex Garden Centre today, where our friendly knowledgeable, team will be happy to help you choose the right plants and offer expert guidance.
