The winter cold can leave the garden bare and uninviting. you need something to light up the damp, grey skies. Weirdly some plants enjoy the winter, some are small and insignificant with sweetly scented flowers, others have brightly coloured foliage or stems.
Choosing and planting winter interest plants.
Firstly, make sure you can see them from a window or plant them on a path that you use regularly. Nobody in their right mind is going to sit out in the garden during the winter just to enjoy the flowers or stems
Secondly, most winter plants look quite boring during the summer, allow for this when you plan your garden. Plant some summer plants around them, choosing plants that will die back during the winter, to allow the winter show to dominate
Finally, the best winter plants need room to grow and develop, many are small trees or large bushes. Spend some time to plan the best position and check how much room you need to allow.
Top 10 winter plants
Easy to grow and widely available
Chimonanthus Praecox Wintersweet
What could be more beautiful in the middle of winter than the unusually shaped flowers, clusters of lemon stars are dotted along the bare stems….
Hamamelis Witch Hazel
A group of shrubs sometimes small trees, that recreate the ugly ducking story every year, fairly unattractive with hairy plain green leaves in the summer….
Jasminum nudiflorum
Bright canary yellow blooms smother the bare (nude) stems. Depending on the weather they can flower from January onwards, a sure sign that spring is…
Mahonia
Mahonias are a popular shrub, instantly recognisable for its painfully distinctive spiky leaves. The long spikes of golden winter flowers are worth a bit of…
Sarcoccoca Christmas box
Sarcococca is one of the best for winter fragrance. Glossy evergreen foliage similar to box, provides year-round colour and structure, while the spidery winter flowers…
Viburnum tinus
Probably the most reliable winter-flowering shrub, it never fails to flower. It is a versatile evergreen shrub with an upright, rounded habit. glossy dark green…
Viburnum x bodnantense
What could be more beautiful in the middle of winter than apple-blossom pink flowers to light up the darkness, but creep closer and the rich…
Winter Berries
Add some winter colour to your garden with bright berries, they can also be a valuable source of food for wildlife. These unassuming plants hide…
Winter hellebores
They are prized by gardeners for their ability to flower during the winter and early spring. The plants are surprisingly frost-resistant and many are evergreen,…
Winter stems
The ugly ducklings of the garden, boring green during the summer it all changes in the autumn when the leaves change into a blaze of…
