- What are the best winter-flowering trees for UK gardens?
- Which winter flowers are good for cutting?
- Which plants are good for wildlife in winter?
- What are the best winter flowers for pots?
- Which evergreen shrubs have winter flowers?
- What are the best winter flowers for borders?
- Which winter flowers will naturalise?
- What are the most colourful winter flowers?
While summer is a riot of bloom, with the garden a leafy mass of colour, the opposite end of the year is very different. The leaves have fallen, the perennial borders are bare, and not much is in growth. And so the plants that flower now, in winter, seem like miracles, and, wonderfully, there is a surprising range, offering colour and perfume when we crave it most.
Everything you need to know about winter flowering plants
What are the best winter-flowering trees for UK gardens?
The most enchanting is perhaps the winter-flowering cherry Prunus × subhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea'. Against all odds, this small, spreading tree is hung with blush-pink blossom, repeatedly, from October into spring. Its bloom provides much-needed softness in the cruelest months, and, at dusk, the flowers glow on the bare branches, making it a spellbinding sight. Its sister plant, the white-flowered P. × subhirtella 'Autumnalis’, was introduced from Japan in 1901. It is said to be a naturally occurring hybrid discovered in Kyoto by a Japanese emperor and named ‘Jugatsu-zakura’ (cherry of the tenth moon), after the month it begins to bloom. It sometimes flowers in late autumn and again in the spring, but, during mild weather, will flower almost continuously through winter, when you will find yourself, again and again, venturing out into the garden to stare up at it in wonder.
Another winter tree to fall in love with is the gorgeous mimosa (Acacia dealbata), which – between January and April – is a sunny mass of yellow puffball flowers that exude an incredible perfume. A weed in Provence, mimosa loves the sun-baked stony soil and low rainfall of the south of France; thus, it fares best in the milder regions of the UK and demands very well-drained neutral to acid soil in sheltered sun. Despite its fussiness, for size, joy, colour, and scent at the bleak back of winter, it is hard to beat.
In a small garden, some deciduous shrubs are fabulous trained into trees, especially Viburnum × bodnantense 'Dawn', which is dotted with clusters of pale-pink flowers from November to March and, on still days, their high-pitched sweet scent hangs on the crisp air.
Which winter flowering plants are good for cutting?
Heading out into the winter garden to gather a bunch of flowers and foliage for the house is just as joyous as picking sweet peas at the height of summer. Anything in bloom during these freezing months can be harvested.
Hellebores make charming cut flowers for small vases – especially those with outwards-facing flowers (such as Walberton’s Rosemary), or you can cut the flowerheads of the hellebores that nod and float them in a bowl of water.
Algerian irises are always lovely in a vase, and a couple of woody sprigs of winter honeysuckle or wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) will scent a room.
Which plants are good for wildlife in winter?
As a result of our warming climate, pollinators (such as the Buff-tailed bumblebee and the Red Admiral butterfly) are increasingly seen foraging during winter. At this time of year, food sources are scarce, so providing them with nectar-laden flowers helps them to survive. They especially love winter-flowering heathers (such as Erica carnea 'Myretoun Ruby' and E. × darleyensis ‘Furzey'), which flower from December to May in well-drained neutral to acid soil or troughs of ericaceous compost and grit. Where there is room, they are best planted en masse, so that they eventually form a patchwork quilt of pink and white; on sunny winter days, heather beds can hum and flutter with a remarkable number of bees and butterflies.
Hellebores, mahonia, winter honeysuckle, rosegold pussy willow, and snowdrops are also excellent for providing winter nectar.
What are the best winter flowers for pots?
The elegant bee-friendly white hellebore Helleborus niger ‘Christmas Carol’ often performs better in pots than it does in the ground, especially if they are against a wall in semi-shade.
Also fabulous in well-drained containers are Cyclamen coum, which produce white or pink flowers for months, and jewel-like dwarf irises, which flower in dazzling shades of blue or purple in February. The late garden writer Vita Sackville-West used to put trays of gentian-blue Iris ‘Harmony’ on her desk at Sissinghurst to buoy her through the end of winter.
Which plants have scented flowers in winter?
Easy to grow in most soils, winter honeysuckles (such as Lonicera × purpusii 'Winter Beauty') are 2-metre shrubs with clusters of small white flowers that flood the icy garden with perfume.
Witch hazels, such as Hamamelis × intermedia 'Pallida', are much larger shrubs with spidery liquorice-scented yellow or orange flowers, for acid to neutral soil. Mezereon (Daphne mezereum) is a compact gem for retentive, well-drained alkaline soil; it loathes transplanting, so take time to choose the right place for it; come February, its stems will be thickly coated in pink bloom, like sticks of candyfloss.
And, if you’re lucky enough to have a spare bit of sheltered south-facing wall and well-drained soil, the rarely-grown white forsythia (Abelliophyllum distichum) is a delight in January and February, dotted with starry flowers that smell of almonds.
Which evergreen shrubs have winter flowers?
The standout plant is shade-loving Mahonia × media ‘Winter Sun’, having amazing architectural leaves and wands of yellow flowers that smell of lily of the valley.
Not as exciting, but a long-flowering stalwart, Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ produces blush-white flowers throughout winter and early spring in medium to large gardens. But, where space is tight, sweet boxwoods (such as Sarcococca hookeriana Winter Gem) are the indispensable shrubs for shade; their tiny white flowers aren’t much to look at, but their perfume will scent a small garden.
What are the best winter flowers for borders?
Hellebores and snowdrops are easy and elegant and provide for wildlife in humus-rich neutral to alkaline borders in semi-shade. The rosy hellebore Penny’s Pink is lovely, but if you want hellebores that self-seed, go for a species, such as Helleborus orientalis.
In south-facing borders with good drainage, Algerian irises (such as Iris unguicularis 'Walter Butt') send up clumps of fragrant pale-lavender flowers that can be cut for the vase. Native to the stony hillsides of Greece and North Africa, they thrive in very well-drained sun-baked soil, and – since they relish the alkalinity of mortar – the base of a wall is ideal.
Which winter flowers will naturalise?
If you’re lucky enough to have a woodland garden, the common snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) is, of course, great for naturalising. In the right conditions, it gradually rolls out great carpets of white; and there are several varieties that will spread, including 'S. Arnott' – a large snowdrop with a honey scent that can be cut for the vase. Aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) will likewise extend themselves in humus-rich neutral to alkaline soil, eventually coating the ground around trees and shrubs with lakes of sunshine-yellow flowers.
What are the most colourful winter flowers?
Bearing crimson-red and gold blooms, from November into January, Camellia × vernalis 'Yuletide' might be the ultimate Christmas shrub. A glossy evergreen, it requires acid to neutral soil in sheltered semi-shade and should never be pruned aggressively (only trimmed after flowering).
But the most important months for a slap-around-the-face blast of colour are January and February, when hibernation mode kicks in. At that time, the plant that shines the brightest is winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). A doddle to grow, it is the perfect wall shrub for a sheltered porch or shed, which it will coat with a waterfall of blazing yellow, making you smile, no matter how grey the sky.
