Make a Winter Garden With Early Flowering Shrubs

Gardens at the start of any new year can look dismal but late winter, when the structure of the garden-be it brand new, skeleton-like or well-punctuated by winter flowering trees-is clearly visible, is a perfect time to begin anew.

Winter Flowering Shrubs Look Well in the Winter Garden and Provide Structure

A good garden needs structure, and winter flowering shrubs can provide that initial blueprint. Winter flowering shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, are key plants. Witch hazel and wintergreen are examples of solid, early-flowering shrubs and therefore listed among some of the most worthwhile garden plants. They give good value and a shape to the garden, year round.

Wintersweet and Viburnum x Bodnatense ‘Dawn’

• Wintersweet (Chimonathus praecox), is, as the British plant company, Thompson Morgan, so poetically describes, a shrub that is ‘dripping with gloriously fragrant yellow flowers’. Plant it beside a door or walkway where its scent will be appreciated. On bare wooded stems this plant (Greek for winter flower) comes to life in mid-winter.

• Viburnum x bodnatense ‘Dawn’ is a deciduous shrub, with small but thick bunches of pink flowers clustered together with a heavenly scent, that flowers from November to March in the Northern Hemisphere. Plant it near the front door or the window seat so it can be easily seen from inside the house.

Mahonia Japonica and Daphne Odora are Late Winter Flowering Shrubs

• Mahonia Japonica ‘Sweet Charity’ is a good specimen for gardens before the late spring takes hold. Robust evergreen shrubs with an upright habit, they are suited to woodlands and shrubberies. The foliage is bold and glossy with clearly defined sharp edges. The flowers in loops of bright yellow can be seen from any aspect of the garden. A very good plant for the beginner.

• Daphne odora is beautiful little shrub with clusters of pink flowers, and the scent is equally if not even more delicious than the flowers. It does best in a well-drained, sheltered spot, facing east and it’s not a shrub for the beginner.

Plant Witch Hazel and Garrya Elliptica for Star-shaped Petals and Grey-green Catkins

• The old favourite, witch hazel, hamamelis, is a good staple for any winter garden with chunks of coppery orange or yellow spider-like or star-shaped flowers that bloom on bare stems for the first two months of the year.

• Garrya elliptica, is another popular shrub-an evergreen, with small oval-shaped dark green leaves. The gardening books say it does best against a garden wall for protection but if planted in a good space where it will be happy then it will yield lovely dangling catkins.

Garden centres will have at least one of these plants, or they can be easily ordered. Many plants are best planted in the dormant season. Plant shrubs on the fine days when there is no danger of frost.

Further reading: Winter Gardening – Evergreens and Hardy Plants