Winter Bloomers
The glory of a garden isn’t truly diminished by the hush of winter when you have winter flowering shrubs to light up the frigid landscape with their captivating colors. As the vibrant leaves of autumn flutter to the ground, we’re introduced to the stark beauty of winter: stark branches, crisp air, and the allure of snow.
However, when your garden is graced with the right shrubs, winter can become a season of charming color bursts and breathtaking floral displays. Here, we’ll explore five such shrubs.
1. Correa ‘Marion’s Marvel’
A stunning hybrid Correa, ‘Marion’s Marvel’ is a truly marvelous Australian fuchsia that blooms from autumn to early spring. As an evergreen shrub known for its resilience in winter, it’s speckled with charming, tubular flowers featuring two-tone colors ranging from dusky pink to a rich coral red. Not only do the attractive, glossy, round leaves serve as a delightful backdrop for the blossoms, but they also attract a variety of birds to your garden swathes.
2. Correa pulchella
Another Australian native, the Correa pulchella, is an attractive, compact shrub perfectly suited for winter landscapes. Often adorning itself with a generous array of colorful bell-shaped flowers, the Correa pulchella is a lovely splash of color when everything else is resting. Flower colors range from pale pink to vibrant red, almost orange, depending on the variety. This hardy shrub is delightfully green throughout the year, providing a stunning contrast against the austere winter blues.
3. Daphne ‘Perfume Princess’
An enchanting addition to any winter garden is the Daphne ‘Perfume Princess’. This variety boasts the unbeatable combination of beautiful foliage, intoxicating fragrance, and a blooming period that starts in winter, lasting well into spring. Known for producing the most scented flowers in the Daphne family, ‘Perfume Princess’ is adorned with an abundance of soft pink blossoms that exude a sweet, exotic perfume, transforming your winter garden into a divine aromatic haven.
4. Viburnum ‘Lisa Rose’
Nothing can quite add a pop of excitement to your winter garden like the ‘Lisa Rose’ Viburnum. This hearty Viburnum variant blooms profusely from late autumn to spring, with clusters of star-shaped flowers brightening up the winter landscape. They slowly transition from a delightful blush pink to white as they mature, creating an eye-catching spectrum of color. With their gentle fragrance and robust resistance to frost, they’re an indispensable addition to any winter garden.
5. Late flowering Hebe seedling
A surprise December bloomer, the late flowering Hebe is a delightful shrub to have for the winter, it started flowering in summer. The Hebe variant with pink flowers and purple new growths adds an extra touch of character and mystery to your winter garden. This evergreen shrub provides an unexpected flourish of bright pink flower spikes interspersed amongst green foliage and deep purple new growth, injecting a dose of bold color to the often monochromatic winter landscape. This seedling started life in a driveway in Wexford from where I dug it up.
Explore these fantastic shrubs and let your garden become a spectacle of colors and life even in the midst of winter. Just imagine stepping out into the frosty morning only to be greeted by a garden bursting with color, fragrance, and unexpected beauty—now that’s a winter spectacle worth cultivating.
Ciaran The Gardener 