“Gardener, if you listen, listen well
Plant for your winter pleasure, when the months
Dishearten; plant to find a fragile note
Touched by the brittle violin of frost”.
Vita Sackville-West
Over the years, we have often had online discussions about our favourite winter plants – bulbs, trees, shrubs, etc. Our columnist Louise Sims has also written profiles of winter plants that she really rates.
I’ve gathered together a list of those plants, which might be handy for anyone wanting some ideas on how to make their winter garden a little more fabulous. If you click on the name, it will take you to the article where we talk about them – and you’ll find lots more photos:
Shrubs:
Chaenomeles x superba ‘Pink Lady’
Hamamelis ‘Aphrodite’ (see feature pic)
Ligustrum japonicum rotundifolium
Mahonia eurobracteata ‘Soft Caress’
Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Irene Patterson’
Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’
Salvia officinalis (common sage)
Sarcococca hookeriana var. digna
Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Charles Lamont’
Bulbs, corms, rhizomes, tubers etc.:
Galanthus nivalis ‘Flore Pleno’ (snowdrop)
Galanthus nivalis ‘Magnet’ (snowdrop)
Eranthis hyemalis ‘Schwefelglanz’ (aconite)
Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ (snowflake)
Narcissus bulbocodium (hoop petticoat daffodil)
Trees:
Amelanchier (for shape)
Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree)
Betula utilis ‘Jacquemontii’ (silver birch)
Magnolia (for buds)
Malus domestica ‘Sturmer Pippin’
Prunus subhirtella ‘Autumnalis Rosea’
Salix alba var. vitellina ‘Britzensis’ (willow)
Other types of plant inc. indoor plants:
Asplenium scolopendrium (hart’s tongue fern)
Dendrobium ‘Berry Oda’ (orchid)
Dryopteris felix-mas (male fern)
Erysimum ‘Parrishes’ (wallflower)
Euphorbia pasteurii ‘John Phillips’
Euphorbia stygiana (Azores spurge)
Ficinia truncata ‘Ice Crystal’
Lonicera purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ (honeysuckle)
Pelargonium sidoides ‘Sloe Gin Fizz’
Polystichum setiverum ‘Pulcherrimum Bevis’ (shield fern)
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2 replies on “75 best plants to grow for winter”
My clematis cirrosa is well established but the past 2 yrs its stems go brittle with no leaves its on a south west fence. I just trim it back in the summer months as it’s by a path. I have a few leaves appearing now. I do not feed it or water . Should I be doing anything else to keep it evergreen. My site is in Brighton and can be very windy. Ps I really enjoy your weekly blogs the humour and excellent information.
Hello Julie,
Thanks for writing in. You don’t say which Clematis cirrhosa you have, but I have two Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica that I grew from seed and are now lovely sprawling big plants. They have a tendency to go into a sort of dormancy in late summer and early autumn with leaves dropping off to the point where you think great sections of it have died, but they miraculously re-sprout around now and look really healthy again by November, covered in lovely green ferny leaves and flowers. It then flowers during mild spells of weather through till about March! I have one in a hot sheltered spot by my front door, and another much larger one on the exposed north-west wall of the house which is going great guns. I never water or feed it. I think they like another climber to scramble up and if you chose something like the very pretty Ampelopsis brevipedunculata ‘Elegans’it may disguise the scruffy phase of your clematis. So in summary I think you just have to grit your teeth and look away during it’s off stage knowing that it will give you and the bees so much in return during the bleak winter months when there’s not much else to lift your spirits. Hope this is helpful, best wishes Laura