With everything starting to look a bit grey and lifeless outdoors, now’s a good time to add some colour to your garden with a few gorgeous plants. By choosing the right cold-loving plants for gardens, you can ensure a colourful display that will see you through until early spring.
Gardening guru David Domoney has shared a few plants that will fill your winter garden with “scent, colour and silhouette”. He urged: “Don’t let the garden go bare and dormant over those cold months. With these winter-flowering plants, you will be sure to brighten up your pots and flower borders in no time.”
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Heather
Winter-flowering heather blooms from autumn to spring, bringing “long-lasting colour and texture” to gardens. David pointed out that it “looks fantastic” in pots with pink, white or purple flowers.
When combined with other cold-tolerant plants, winter heather creates a radiant, welcoming display that brightens even the chilliest days.
Cyclamen
Cyclamen bloom from autumn to spring in red, pink and white shades. Their silver-marked leaves add “extra visual appeal”.
These graceful blooms add a cheerful pop of colour and are ideal for brightening up window boxes or flower beds, providing beauty that lasts throughout the season.
Hellebores
Often called the Christmas Rose, hellebores may bloom in midwinter, offering white, green, and deep red flowers.
When planted, hellebores take the spotlight with their striking blooms. These resilient flowers have a long flowering period that lasts well into spring, making them a perfect choice for creating a vibrant and enduring winter display.
Iris unguicularis
Iris unguicularis, the Algerian iris, blooms in winter with violet flowers. Yellow and white markings brighten the petals and offer subtle fragrance.
The joy of Iris unguicularis is the length of the flowering season. The buds start showing by Christmas, and the final flowers show as late as April.
Japanese quince
Also known as chaenomeles, the Japanese quince is a hardy, woody shrub that possesses thorny branches bearing cup-shaped flowers in winter and early spring.
Japanese flowering quince produces clusters of bright, often pink or red, blossoms in early spring, creating a striking display against bare winter branches. This versatile plant adds both beauty and structure to any garden.