Every year I am bewildered when I see garden centres and supermarkets selling ‘painted’ heathers in a variety of garish colours.
Tag: winter flowering
Shrubs and plants that flower during the winter – flowering usually during the the months of December, January or February.
Helleborus
Sarococca confusa (Sweet box)
The flowers on this evergreen shrub are quite unspectacular and you could easily pass by without noticing them, if it wasn’t for the fragrance that fills the air. It is also known as Sweet box or Christmas box. They flower from December to February and are followed by shiny black fruit. Grow close to a path where you can appreciate the scent. An easy-to-grow shrub that likes shade and reaches about four feet in height. It spreads a little, but is not invasive – the new shoots are easy to pull up and you can give them away to your friends.
Mahonia ‘Winter sun’
Hellebore (Christmas Rose)
Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’
This lovely shrub has started flowering and is a valuable source of food for any bees still out and about.
Although a deciduous shrub, it flowers throughout the winter, producing fragrant pink blooms, set against cinnamon coloured bark. The leaves in spring are beautiful bronze, turning red in the autumn.