14 Winter Flowering Plants to Brighten Up Your Outdoor Space
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While the evergreen plants in the garden bring a constant presence of greenery to your garden, most of them do not take the harsh winters of the UK very well. These flowering plants might bloom all around the year; however, in winter, most of them get dried up. Thus, even though it is fun to gaze at the surroundings from your home or office windows in the winter, it is not so charming for garden enthusiasts to look at their garden like that.
Well, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to settle for the empty dried-up garden in the winter. There are a lot of winter flowers UK that can survive winter of Britain. Here is a list of the best flowering plants for your outdoor space this winter to keep your garden colourful until the sunny summer returns.
14 Stunning Winter Flowering Plants for Your Outdoor Space
Before opting for winter flowers UK, you need to ensure that you find the right plants for different locations in your garden. There are a few things to know before planting the winter plants in your garden.
You need to check the hardiness of the plants to see if they can survive the harsh winter months. Always think about the flowers you would like to plant in your house. As most plants do not stand a chance against extreme weather conditions, you need to choose the plants carefully.
As winter brings out the skeleton of your garden, you will have a better perspective to see the gaps in your garden. You can use the winter plants to fill them up properly. You can bring climbing plants in to make it look better. Colour your patio and decks with the amazing hanging plants in the winter.
If you want suggestions about different perennial plants available out there that will bloom every year, here is a list of winter flowers UK to help you with that.
1. Daphne
Hardiness Rating: H4
Position: Full sun or partial shade
Size: 2.5 X 1.5M
Flowering Months: February to March
Daphne is one of the best winter flowering plants that can keep the garden filled with bright colours in the snowy winter of the UK. These plants bloom from late winter to early spring. These plants originate from the eastern sides of the Himalayas. The pinkish-white scented flowers from the mountains of the Himalayas and Japan and Korea bring evergreen foliage to the garden. These shrubs bring the most divinely-scented flowers to your garden. If you want to make your garden look colourful, then these are the best choices you have.
2. Witch Hazel
Hardiness Rating: H6
Position: Full sun or partial shade
Size: 4 X 4 M
Flowering Months: January to March
The deciduous shrubs of witch hazel grow the best in the slightly acidic soil. These plants are post-tolerant. You can see they have a very high hardiness rating which makes them the best choices for woodland gardens. These deciduous shrubs bring in wiry yellow flowers on their bare branches and lighten up the mood of your garden in the harsh winter months. These yellow flowers will add a lot of interest to your garden as they will paint the whole plant yellow in winter.
3. White Forsythia
Hardiness Rating: H6
Position: Full sun
Size: 1.5 X 2.5 M
Flowering Months: February – March
This is one of the best deciduous plants that you can opt for when you want to make your garden look colourful in the backdrop of winter snow. These plants bear flowers on their stems late in the winter months. The tree also ranks higher in the hardiness ratings. The slender branches of the pale pink or white flowers stick them to the tree. You can smell these amazing flowers from anywhere in your garden. These flowers resemble the forsythia flowers that are commonly seen in Korea, and the common name for the plants arrived from there.
4. Christmas Box
Hardiness Rating: H5
Position: Full sun or partial shade
Size: 2.5 X 1.5 M
Flowering Months: December to March
The Christmas Box, a.k.a Saracococca, confuses one of those amazing evergreen shrubs that has a long flowering time. These plants bloom in the peak winter months and spread fragrance all over the area. The white blossoms look incredible in the picture-perfect backdrop of dark green foliage of the plant. As long as the soil is draining properly and you are watering them properly, these plants can easily survive with complete exposure to the sun or in partially shaded areas. These plants are also a great option for mixed hedging.
5. Heathers
Hardiness Rating: H6
Position: Full sun or partial shade
Size: 0.5 X 0.5 M
Flowering Months: December to April
Many varieties of heathers blooms in the winter. These H6-rated plants thrive in winter months when most of your other garden plant looks like they are dead. This shrub does not grow long. However, they are great choices to be a border in your garden. They can also grow in containers. Being able to grow in partially shady areas as well, these plants can make your patio colourful as well. The flowers of these plants are of different shades as well. You can get purple, white or even pink flowers in the plants.
6. Vibranium
Hardiness rating: H4
Position: Any
Size: 2.5 X 2.5 M
Flowering Months: November to March
Among the other plants we have listed so far, Vibranium is probably the most commonly-known plant so far. Despite being a little less rated in hardiness ratings compared to the other plants in the list, vibranium is an amazing choice when you want to grow colourful plants in your garden. . These pink buds start appearing around Christmas, turning slowly into white flowers at the beginning of the new year.
7. Skimmia japonica
Hardiness rating: H5
Position: Full or partial shade
Size: 2.5 X 1.5 M
Flowering Months: March to April
Skimmia japonica is a plant that flowers in the spring. This is not a plant with flowers in winter. However, we have included this plant in our list because they bring new and prominent buds around the winter months. This plant is a hardy plant that can survive and thrive in a full or partially shaded environment. Besides, they bear red berries in the winter months and are amazing for Christmas.
8. Elaeagnus Pungens ‘Maculata’
Hardiness Rating: H5
Position: Full sun or partial shade
Size: 4 X 4 M
Flowering Months: October to November
Maculata is an amazing winter flower UK for your garden. These amazing evergreen shrubs are one of the best nitrogen-fixing choices among gardeners. Planting the species of Elaeagnus can keep your winter garden bright and colourful. These plants come with a sweet silvery-white flower bloom from autumn to winter.
9. Mahonia X Media
Hardiness Rating: H5
Position: Any
Size: 4 X 4 M
Flowering Months: November to March
Mahonia plants are another impressive variety of evergreen plants that will bring amazing spires of yellow flowers to the garden. These shrubs bloom in late winter and keep the garden brightened until the end of spring. These colourful flowers of the shrubs bring in purple berries. These plants are extremely shade-tolerant. This is why these plants are the favourite choices for gardeners to enlighten their patios in the snowy winter months.
10. Strawberry Tree
Hardiness rating: H5
Position: Full sun
Size: 8 X 8 M
Flowering Months: November
Strawberry trees are one of the best choices for most gardeners in winter. The trees grow up to 8 metres in both height and width, almost a favourite for every household. Blooming in peak winter months, and keep the garden filled with amazing colours from October to December. This evergreen foliage keeps the garden colourful in all the months. Being somewhat taller than the other shrubs in the garden, these plants are perfect border plants for your garden.
11. Hellebores
Hardiness Rating: H7
Position: Partial shade
Size: 0.5 X 0.5 M
Flowering Months: November to March
Hellebores are another incredible winter flowering plant you can have in your garden this winter. This perennial plant is perfect for your soil beds and planting containers and is available in different colours. Christmas Rose, a common variety of these winter flowers UK, is a great example of the varied range of these plants. These plants bloom from late winter to early spring and being resilient to partial shade, they will always make the landscape look better. There are many popular hybrids available for these plants.
12. Iris Unguicularis
Hardiness Rating: H5
Position: Full Sun
Size: 0.5 X 0.5 M
Flowering Months: October to March
Iris rhizomes are also a popular choice among gardeners when you want to colour your garden with flowers in some of the harshest weather months of the year. Plant these rhizomes in your garden in the summer months. These plants need to warm up before they can start flowering in the winter months. However, another thing you need to remember when planting these plants is that you should always plant them in well-drained soil. You can also plant these plants indoors. However, that will push the flowers to bloom in February.
13. Bergenia Crassifolia
Hardiness rating: H7
Position: Any
Size: 0.5 X 0.5 M
Flowering Months: March to April
Bergenia crossifolia is another amazing perennial plant that will keep the gardens coloured in the winter months. These winter flowering plants are widely known as the elephant ears. This clump-forming perennial is evergreen, and they are most well known for the hardiness of the vigour. The clusters of these plants bring purple-pink flowers and keep the borders of your garden decorating. Try these winter flower UK plants in your garden this winter.
14. Winter Pansies
Hardiness Rating: H7
Position: Full sun or partial shade
Size: 0.5 X 0.5 M
Flowering Months: Any
Violas, a.k.a winter pansies, are another common and popular option available when you are trying to bring bedding or hanging plants to keep your garden colourful in the winter. These bedding plants come in different varieties, and they bloom all over the year. Therefore you can try these amazing flowering beds this winter as well.
