Brighten Your Winter Garden With These Seasonal Planting Tips
There are some clever ways you can add colour to your winter garden and ensure you have access to sunshine on demand, no matter what the weather truly is like outside.
Creative Gardens & Driveways is a leading landscaping company based in Cheshire. We have over two decades of experience in the industry, making us your local experts in all things gardening.
Using our experience and passion for landscaping, we are sharing some of our best seasonal planting tips to help you make the most out of your winter garden and bring some colour to this cold, grey season.
The Best Plants For Your Winter Garden
Although this season is renowned for being cold and grey, you do not have to suffer along with everyone else. Incorporating these plants and flowers into your winter garden allows you to brighten up your days and see a whole array of beautiful hues no matter the weather.
When planning your winter garden, consider the following:
1. Hellebores (Christmas Rose)
Hellebores are a delightful addition to any winter garden and a true seasonal favourite. These flowers have elegant blooms from late winter well into spring, ensuring your garden is full of colour no matter the weather.
With shades ranging from white and pink to deep purple, Hellebores are perfect for brightening up shaded garden areas or adding colour to an otherwise drab winter garden. These flowers are evergreen and resistant to the harsher weather conditions that winter can provide, providing colour to your outdoor space all year round.
2. Winterberry (Ilex Verticillata)
Winterberry is a deciduous holly that is perfect for your winter garden. While it loses leaves in autumn, like many other shrubs, this only adds to the appeal of this plant as this reveals bright red berries. These berries persist throughout winter, creating a stunningly vibrant seasonal display in any outdoor space.
Winterberry shrubs are a great choice to add dramatic colour to your winter garden, as well as wildlife as they attract birds. This can help keep your garden interesting and inviting well into the season and ensure you always have something to look forward to.
This plant can be used as a hedge or in mixed borders, creating seasonal interest in your winter garden. It is best planted in moist, well-drained soil.
3. Winter Jasmine (Jasminum Nudiflorum)
Winter Jasmine is known for its cheerful yellow flowers which bloom on bare stems, making it an ideal addition to your winter garden. This is a climbing plant and can easily cover walls or trellises to provide colour deep into the season.
This plant is easy to grow and requires minimal maintenance, making it ideal for beginner gardeners or those who want the colour without the effort.
4. Cyclamen
Cyclamen flourishes in the colder months and continues to offer exquisite blooms and foliage even in the lowest temperatures. The flowers can bloom in a range of colours, including pink, red and white, to suit any garden design and the marbled leaves provide additional visual appeal to your winter garden.
To add colour to your winter garden with Cyclamen, plant it in pots or in ground plots based on the space you have available
5. Heathers (Erica Carnea)
With their vibrant pink and purple flowers, heathers are a great way to add colour and warmth to your winter garden. These plants are low-growing, making them ideal for rockeries, containers, or borders.
Heathers prefer acidic soil and a sunny location, but they can flourish with minimal care when in these conditions.
How To Design A Colourful Winter Garden
Now that you know what plants to add to your winter garden, it is time to consider the garden design and how you want the space to look as a whole. Simply planting random flowers in the available space is not going to create a nice environment, even if it is colourful.
Our garden designers have worked with all kinds of clients over the years, allowing us to understand how to make the best out of all garden shapes and sizes. No matter what kind of garden you have, use the following winter garden design tips to maximise space and add colour where you need it most.
Colour Coordination
When adding colour to your winter garden, it is a good idea to think of the space as a whole. This can make it easier for you to narrow down your options for plants and shrubs, as you want to choose complimenting colours.
By choosing plants that complement each other, for example, pairing the cool tones of hellebores with the fiery hues of a winterberry shrub for contrast, you can design a harmonious winter garden that looks stunning all throughout the season.
Varying Heights and Textures
Incorporating plants of varying heights and textures is a great way to add depth to your winter garden, as well as interest. You can create the illusion of more space by planning where plants will go and adding specific zones based on the space you have available.
For this, we’d recommend using taller shrubs like winter jasmine as the backdrop of your winter garden. This can then be layered with mid-height plants, like heathers, before finishing with low-growing cyclamen.
Plan for Year-Round Interest
Although you are focusing on your winter garden right now, it is a good idea to keep the future in the back of your mind. Wanting to add colour and interest to your winter garden is great motivation to improve your current garden design, but what happens when the weather changes?
This is why it is a good idea to think ahead when adding new plants to your winter garden to ensure that it remains engaging as the year goes on. For example, consider adding perennials with seasonal plants to ensure there is always going to be colour and beauty in your garden as the seasons change.
Consider Wildlife Needs
Beauty comes in many forms, and wildlife can be a great addition to your garden design. If you want to keep your winter garden healthy and attractive throughout the season, consider wildlife needs when choosing plants.
Consider plants that offer food and shelter the wildlife, such as birds, insects and even other creatures like hedgehogs. Winterberry and heathers are particularly beneficial for birds and pollinators, so should be included in your winter garden design if this is something you are interested in.
Conclusion
Creating a healthy and vibrant winter garden requires strategic planting. There are some planting varieties, like those mentioned in this blog post, that thrive in colder conditions and can continue to add colour to your garden well into the season.
By carefully considering the plants and their layout, you can ensure that not only does your winter garden look great, but the space continues to be appealing even as the seasons change. Choosing your plants well can also help to support local wildlife and keep ecosystems balanced.
Contact Us Today
Are you ready to transform your garden into a winter wonderland? Creative Gardens & Driveways can help. Contact us today to learn more or request a consultation.
