Create a Winter Wonderland in Your Garden with Ease

You don’t need warm summery days to enjoy your garden, make a landscape worth admiring even in the coldest months! 

It’s easier than you think to transform your garden into your very own winter wonderland, just like those heartwarming scenes on Christmas cards!

Listen closely, you can just about hear ringing sleigh bells in the distance… Smell the rustic scent of chestnuts roasting on an open fire… Feel the crunch of the crisp snowy ground beneath your feet… Oh how we love winter!

We are really in the months fit for the senses, and there’s no better feeling than gazing out of the window, wrapping up warm, and enjoying everything your garden has to offer in the frost-bitten, magical winter months.

Winter-thriving plants have so many endearing characteristics; many are scented, most are shade tolerant, and others happily flourish in those snazzy pots or containers on the patio, so can be moved into warmer spots or indoors when the cold snap comes. These special plants can brighten up even the dullest of winter days with their sweet perfume and illuminating colour.

Fragrant Plants to Grow in a Winter Garden 

There’s nothing sweeter than the intoxicating smell of spring once the excitement of Christmas has faded and the hangover from New Year’s Eve subsides.

The unique Daphne odora Aureomarginata is a treat for all the senses with clusters of creamy-pink flowers that open across a backdrop of deep, evergreen variegated foliage at the beginning of the New Year, just like the Edgeworthia’s lemon-yellow flowers, which smother bare branches like candyfloss on a stick - almost good enough to eat!

Speaking of drawing winter fragrance, very few quite match up to the aroma produced by Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Winter Gem’, and with common names like ‘Christmas Box’ and ‘Sweet Box’, there’s little wonder why it’s such a treat at this time of year.

Coated in glossy evergreen leaves and flowering in winter with glorious little firework-like flowers, and just wait until you catch a whiff of the sensationally sweet vanilla fragrance produced – oh wow!

Wrap fairy lights around the bare branches of trees and shrubs in the garden or place lanterns near the base of the plant to put a festive spotlight on these merry beauties…

Attractive Plants in Winter 

The tendency in winter is to think that that’s it – your garden is doomed for, nothing will survive and the only thing to see is boring, bare branches. Don’t believe it!

There are so many plants just waiting their turn to make an impression in the coldest months, in fact with the right planning you’ll find yourself counting down summer days, excited for them to end so you can get closer to the emergence of your winter gardening spectacle.

Have you ever seen the metallic purple berries of Callicarpa ‘Profusion’ Beautyberry? Or the hot pink ribbon-like flowers of Loropetalum ‘Fire Dance’ or ‘Black Pearl’? What about the enviably rich red foliage of Photinia ‘Red Robin’. There really is so much choice! 

Mix and match some plants in your garden that look phenomenal even in winter. Just imagine intense shades of red, pink, green, and purple shining through from beneath a layer of sparkling frost or glistening snow…what could be more magical? 

Bring some of your festive decorations outdoors. Hang baubles or wooden decorations from plants, scatter tinsel around covered areas, and just get creative! Our gardens deserve to be ‘dressed up’ at this time of year, just as much as the living room or kitchen! 

Tough and Hardy Plants to Grow 

It’s not just the big guns that make it through winter – smaller shrubs, perennials and bedding plants such as Clematis, Hellebore and Pansy can put on delightful floral shows through the colder months, despite their delicate appearance.

Winter flowering pansy mixes, such as the exquisite ‘Frizzle Sizzle’ or ‘Matrix Mix’, are made from layered frilly flowers, are are great for growing in pots and empty beds – the dazzling array of colours make for fabulous displays and best of all they’ll flower from December, right the way through to summer’s early calls.

Hellebores and evergreen Clematis, such as ‘Freckles’, bring nostalgic colour to those shaded spots you’d never thought you could fill. Fully hardy, they won’t make a fuss of the falling snow – they don’t call helleborus niger the ‘Christmas rose’ for nothing!

Buy yourself a potted Christmas tree that can be planted in the garden and decorated with lights outdoors in December, but will also provide evergreen interest all year round! 

Have you got a particularly attractive display in your garden as we approach the cold winter months? Share some pictures and tips with your fellow gardeners on our dedicated customer page here!