Winter and early spring flowers can bring color, structure, and scent to the winter and early spring garden.
In the winter, a shrub adds color that breaks up the greys and blacks of the landscape. In the winter and early spring, a splash of color from flowers or berries adds a welcome variation to a snowy, icy winter garden.
People choose flowering shrubs for many reasons. They create habitat and hiding places for birds, and they create groundcover for insects and frogs. Bird habitat is especially important in the winter, when trees have lost their leaves and a dense, shrubby thicket is an essential hiding and roosting place. In the summer, these flowering shrubs provide shade. In the winter, they provide three-dimensional structure and contrast in the garden. Winter flowering also give the promise of spring to the garden, an essential reminder to the gardener that warmer times are ahead.
The ideal winter shrub is one that has beautiful flowers, berries and leaves. Choose shrubs that are evergreen to add green in the wintertime.
What shrubs have early spring flowers?
Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica has creamy-white, bell-shaped flowers.
Jasmine nudiflorumhas star-shaped yellow flowers that look lovely against an arbor. They love light, so they prefer a southern exposure.
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis mollis) has bright yellow blooms, a bright shot of spring light.
Winter-Flowering Viburnum (Viburnum x Bodnantense ‘Dawn’) also blooms in the early spring, and its light pink flowers are a subtle complement to the fading snow.
Winterhazel (Corylopsis spicata) has lovely, bell-shaped flowers that arrive in early spring.
Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) is a climber, and it’s suitable for growing on a tree or arbor. The winter honeysuckle has tiny but very sweet-smelling white blooms.
Add a splash of spring to the yard by choosing a brightly-colored or sweet-scented flowering shrub or vine. At the time when gardeners are pining for spring, these shrubs deliver lovely flowers, and they’re an asset to any garden.
Image Credit: [mikehome]