In winter, the garden seems to be dull. To bring a touch of cheerfulness, think of winter flowering shrubs, so you can still enjoy a beautiful show from November to March, despite the cold.
The flowering cherry tree
Installed as an isolated specimen to enjoy its splendor, Prunus subbhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea' will be among the earliest to bloom. It blooms from November to March in successive waves of small, soft pink flowers at the rhythm of the warm weather. Its development being limited, it can be installed in small gardens.
Dogwoods
Cornus mas and Cornus officinalis are very easy to grow and offer the spectacle of their yellow flowers in February-March. They like most soils and are very hardy, neither frost nor snow can harm them.
Winter jasmine
Here is a shrub that likes the shade and blooms in the heart of winter. Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) displays small bright yellow stars on its bare branches. It tolerates most soils and is equally well suited to be trained against a wall or left free to cover a slope.
Viburnum
Viburnum tinus, known by its vernacular name of 'Viorne', has a compact habit and is covered with slightly fragrant pinkish-white inflorescences throughout the winter. For variety, consider Viburnum x bodnantense and Viburnum fragans, which will bloom from November to March. The berries attract birds!
Sarcococca
It looks like a boxwood with pointed leaves from afar, but it is in fact a Sarcococca, a shrub of limited size (0.50 x 1.50 m) which starts to bloom at the end of January with original and fragrant white flowers.
The mahonia
An original shrub with prickly, tiered foliage, the mahonia is covered from February onwards with crowns of spikes of yellow flowers with fragrances reminiscent of lily of the valley. This shrub is ideal as a defensive hedge.
Witch Hazel
This shrub with a flared habit and elegant silhouette is adorned with fragrant lemon-yellow or slightly orange flowers from January. Another attraction of witch hazel is its foliage, which takes on flamboyant hues in spring.
Japanese quince
There are many varieties of Chaenomeles. If you choose them well, you will be able to stagger the blooms from December to March with a palette ranging from white to red, passing through pink and orange!
Edgeworthia
This little known shrub deserves its place in gardens where the climate remains mild because it is not very hardy (from -5° to -10°C once well installed). From February to April, it produces clusters of fragrant white and yellow flowers. Some cultivars of the edgeworthia like 'Red Dragon' put the red in the honor!
