Planting winter flowering shrubs and perennials

Winter can be a really magical season in the garden if you choose the right plants. Evergreens come into their own against the bare branches and faded leaves of most shrubs and perennials. Trees and shrubs with colourful stems are at their best without a cloak of leaves to hide their best assets. Winter flowers are some of the most beautiful and delicate in appearance, defying the weather and filling the garden with sweet fragrance - so pleasing on cold air it is there to attract the few insects that brave the cold. Now is a great time to add plants that bloom in the winter months for a new season of interest in your garden.

Skimmias, especially the red-budded Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’ are widely available for use in pots and containers and to brighten beds and borders.  For long term garden interest plant them in a shady spot, otherwise the foliage turns yellow. As winter turns to spring those attractive buds open into tiny sweet-scented flowers; an added bonus.

The Christmas box, Sarcococca confusa is another fine, small shrub for shade.  Slightly arching green stems are clothed with shining deep green leaves. It never gets too tall and forms a dense clump of stems as it grows. From mid-winter the tiny flower-buds open to white filament-like flowers. These may not be showy but the scent will fill your garden: a real fillip in the dark days of winter.  Sarcococca grows on just about any soil and is ideal under trees and in narrow, shady beds and borders.

For winter fragrance few shrubs can match the scent of the daphnes. These are quite tolerant of soil type but hate exposure.  Daphne bholua is one of the largest making a tall, loose shrub, ideal to plant close to the house.  The scent is sweet and delicious and flowers are produced over many weeks.  Plant small for best results. Daphnes hate being in pots, so the sooner you get them into the ground the better. 

There are different varieties of mahonia in bloom from early autumn right through to mid-spring.  These tough shrubs, with their holly-like leaves come in various forms from low, suckering ground cover subjects to large upright shrubs up to 3m tall. Mahonia japonica can make a substantial shrub with several stems. The holly-like leaves often take on autumnal tints in full sun, but it is at its best in semi-shade.  The pale yellow flowers open from mid-winter, resembling lily-of-the-valley in form and fragrance.  Old, leggy specimens can be hard pruned to rejuvenate them. Cut back to just above any rosette of leaves, or cut old, bare stems back to 20cm.

Hellebores make wonderful planting partners for winter shrubs and under the dappled shade of deciduous trees.  You can also use them in beds and borders with roses and perennials where neighbouring plants provide summer shade.  There are many different types to choose from, but Helleborus x hybridus are the most widely grown.  Although the foliage is almost evergreen it is best to cut off the old foliage in early winter just before the flower buds emerge from the ground.  Remove any weeds and leaf debris and much the ground with compost.  Removing the old foliage helps to prevent disease and ensures the flowers are displayed to advantage.

All of these plants benefit from an annual application of Vitax Q4 fertiliser after flowering. This provides all they need for growth in the coming season and a great display next year. 

You will find a greater selection of the best winter shrubs and perennials on sale when they are looking good and showing off their finest qualities. Now is the time to buy and plant in well-prepared ground, adding a handful or two of Vitax Q4 fertiliser. This will get them off to the best possible start to get them established for years to come.   

Andy McIndoe

For Vitax