Winter Garden Guide

While huge blooms of flowers are more often seen in the late spring and summer there are some ways to keep your garden full of flowers during the colder months of the year. Most of these flowers and shrubs are no competitor for the vibrancy of summer and spring flowers but they have a certain frail beauty to them which can bring life to a winter garden.

Winter flowers

Winter flowers are often pale in colour but are generally hardy things. A Christmas Rose (Hellenborus niger) for example enjoy shady and sheltered areas – once they are planted it is best not to disturb them or shift them about in the garden. There are around twenty different species of the plant and you should be careful in your selection as not all are evergreen.

A popular evergreen shrub which flowers into large blooms in late winter or early spring is the Camellia (Theaceae). With around 80 species available at different heights and colours there is sure to be a species which is complimentary to your garden. These plants need shade and acidic soil to thrive properly.
Snowdrops are a cold-season standard – one of the first to bloom in the year. They are often considered as the first sign of spring approaching because of this. Once you establish snowdrops they seed themselves. Like most winter flowers, planting them in shade in well drained soil gives them the best chance of thriving.

Winter shrubs

While adding a splash of colour is usually the preservation of flowers in winter we must sometimes turn to berries to liven up our gardens. A winter staple like Holly (Ilex) growing with male and female together produces gorgeous red berries which last through winter. There is a huge number of species available (around 300) ranging from trees, shrubs, evergreen, to deciduous plants. The evergreen varieties tend to have dark green prickly leaves. According to the variety you choose you will require different amounts of sun or shade.

Other berry producing plants such as Viburnum tinus produce dark blue berries through winter and should be planted in sun or shade – it also blooms with white and pink flowers which offset its deep green leaves. Firethorn (Prancantha) offers a winter garden bunches of bright orange berries which appear late in summer and last through winter. A bonus of this plant is that is does attract wildlife (blackbirds particularly).

With this in mind you could be on your way to brightening up cold winter morning with a splash of colour – perfect for viewing from indoors!