Winter Flowers

There’s no need to shut yourself away indoors for the winter. Even out of season, there’s nothing like a changing sequence of flowers to tempt you outside to discover what’s looking good today – and since winter flowers are subtle rather than loud, you really do have to walk round to satisfy your curiosity.

Witch hazel’s spidery yellow flowers stand out well from the bare branches; they also have a lovely scent, though you need to get close-up to appreciate it. (If the flowers are frozen, ‘huff’ on them with cupped hands to make them release a face-full of fragrance). Red and orange-flowered varieties are also available, but scarcer. And although witch hazel not generally grown in containers, I’ve kept one in a tub very successfully for years, so I can move it up close to the house when it’s in flower. Delightful!

Not so well known is wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), a shrub with fragrant bowl-shaped pale-yellow flowers dotted along bare branches. Being biggish, it’s best trained flat against a wall that gets reasonable summer sun; put it somewhere you’ll walk past it frequently in winter to reap the benefit.

Viburnum tinus is an old favourite. In midwinter it’s best feature is its flower buds, which are grouped in tight domed clusters at the ends of the stems so they stand out well against the dark evergreen foliage. The variety ‘Eve Price’ is specially attractive, with red buds, while ‘Gwenllian’ has brightish pink buds. The flowers don’t open out ‘properly’ till spring, but they coincide with all the spring bulbs, which is another plus.

Winter-flowering climbers are worth a special mention. Winter jasmine is an old favourite for growing on trellis, or on a fence, but it’s also brilliant for training up into a tree – it flowers even in shade so it’s often used for a north-facing wall, where it looks really rather showy growing in among ivies. The yellow star-shaped flowers appear on bare stems; they are great for cutting – put a few sprigs in with evergreen foliage to make classy winter flower arrangements. And winter-flowering clematis (Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’) is a real star, with large cream flowers that are halfway between stars and bells. This climber needs growing up high trellis, up through a tree, or over an arch since you’ll only see the sprinkling of brick-red speckles inside the flowers when you look up into them from underneath. It keeps flowering from November till late March, and it’s a great favourite with early bumblebees.

When it comes to winter perennials, the choice is very restricted. The Christmas rose is the one that usually springs to mind. The very earliest of the hellebores to bloom, it has large single white flowers; connoisseurs seek out the variety ‘Potter’s Wheel’ which has larger flowers than most. The Christmas rose rarely flowers at Christmas unless grown in pots and helped along under glass; outside, it’s usually not in bloom till January. But there’s an added problem; the buds, which are produced at ground level, are martyrs to slugs, so if you want a good early show take particular precautions to keep their surroundings mollusc-free. This is a plant to prowl round and inspect regularly.

It’s well worth taking pains to create some midwinter displays all round the garden. Besides giving the garden a new dimension in the ‘dead’ season, it’ll keep you fit – it’s the perfect excuse to get outside for a walk-round, whatever the weather.