Bring Fanfare and Joy to Your Yard This Season – 6 Underrated Winter Flowers to Brighten and Cheer the Coldest Months

Underrated winter flowers are often elbowed aside by their more obviously attractive and on-trend counterparts. But what a shame! These overlooked plants are perfect candidates for your winter garden ideas, adding color, scent and structure when not much else catches the eye.

Perfect for winter borders or pots, they offer food and shelter for wildlife and garden birds, and suit many types of garden, from cottage gardens to modern yards in a range of US hardiness zones. Don't discount them when planning your winter garden; they are low-maintenance and because they are attuned to the shorter, darker days, many will thrive in shade.

I have picked these six as my top underrated winter flowers because I believe they add so much to the garden. Color, perfume, cheerfulness, attractive bark and quirky flowers – not only will they get visitors talking when they see them in your yard, they will lift your spirits as they shine through the darkest, coldest months of the year.

Paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha)

Underrated winter flowers don’t come much more unjustly overlooked than Edgeworthia chrysantha, or paperbush.

Suitable for growing in hardiness zones 7 to 10, this shrub is one of the best early spring-flowering shrubs, its petals unfurling in January and February.

Unusually, the scented flowers appear before the leaves, opening on bare stems, making Edgeworthia a truly eye-catching addition to the yard and worth including in your winter-flowering shrubs list.

It grows best in a sheltered location where winds can’t disperse its scent, with well-drained soil and partial shade, and can also be grown as a container shrub, but will need root-pruning every few years to keep it small.

Edgeworthia’s common name paperbush comes from Japan where fibres from its bark are used to make high-quality paper.

Edgeworthia shrubs are available to buy from Garden Goods Direct.

Winter-Flowering Clematis

We think of clematis as summer-flowering climbers but there are varieties that add color to the winter yard.

Clematis cirrhosa var. purpurascens 'Freckles' is an evergreen clematis suitable for hardiness zones 4-9. Its pendant flowers are creamy-white with dark pink markings – hence the name 'Freckles' – and are followed by attractive fluffy seedheads.

The flowers provide nectar for winter-flying pollinators and its evergreen framework of leaves, which turn an attractive bronze in winter, offers a safe hibernation spot for other beneficial garden insects, and also a place to forage for food for garden birds.

For the best results, grow in fertile, free-draining soil in a sunny spot, but plant the roots deep and keep them shaded.

Clematis cirrhosa var. purpurascens 'Freckles' is low-maintenance and needs little pruning apart from deadheading after flowering and trimming it back in late summer if it grows unruly. Because it is so easy to care for you are unlikely to fall foul of the most common clematis pruning mistakes.

Feed your 'Freckles' in spring with a general fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro All-Purpose Plant Food available on Amazon.

American Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is an essential winter garden shrub that is native to the eastern and central part of America.

It is hardy from zones 3-8 and usually grows to 16.5ft, though it has been known to reach double this height.

There are several varieties of witch hazel and their main charm is their unusual winter flowers that appear in the fall just as the leaves are starting to change color and drop.

The blooms are sweetly scented and appear in clusters of slightly twisted pale yellow petals. They last from the fall until the end of the year and are an essential provider of nectar for late-flying pollinators such as moths and bees.

Witch hazel does best in acidic soils that remain damp and don’t completely dry out. It is happy in sun and partial shade, but will flower at its best in sunshine and if you fertilize it each year in spring.

Hamamelis virginiana can be bought at Nature Hills.

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

If you want to plant a carpet of winter cheer, look no further than winter aconites, which produce waxy, bright yellow flowers in late winter and early spring and look a picture when planted in drifts under deciduous trees.

They are hardy in zones 3-7 and relatively unfussy about soil type, as long as it drains well as they are a spring bulb plant and can rot in consistently soggy conditions.

As well as providing groundcover, these yellow superstars make beautiful winter pot plants and, best of all, they are one of the few bulbs that squirrels don't eat!

Like all of the best spring bulbs, winter aconites should be planted in the fall and are a fantastic low-maintenance plant, requiring little extra care once in the soil.

If you avoid planting them too deep, aconite bulbs will happily spread, and large clumps can be divided in the fall. They are relatively free from pests and diseases and if their soil is good they won’t need extra feeding. In fact, if planted beneath deciduous trees, the falling leaves will decompose into leaf mulch around them, creating the best free soil conditioner there is!

Winter aconite bulbs should be planted in late summer or early fall. Packs of 30 winter aconite bulbs are available to buy from Amazon.

Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum)

Hardy winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is a star in every sense of the word, producing constellations of bright yellow, five-petalled flowers when there is very little else going on in the garden.

I love the way they appear on the minimalist dark green stems ('nudiflorum' is Latin for ‘naked flower’), popping out of the gloom and putting on a cheery show.

Winter jasmine is perfect for yards in zones 6-10 and does best in a sunny spot in rich, free-draining soil.

It can be quite unruly, but is easy to maintain and can be kept in shape by pruning immediately after it flowers. Fertilize winter jasmine in spring, to keep it growing and flowering healthily.

Winter jasmine isn’t scented like other jasmines, but it is one of the best plants for attracting hummingbirds, even in the colder months.

Winter jasmine plants are available to buy from Garden Goods Direct.

Sweet box (Sarcococca hookeriana)

I have a sweet box growing by my front door and each winter it fills the cold air with the most delicious scent.

Suitable for USDA hardiness zones 6-9, this petite shrub is one of the best groundcover plants for preventing soil erosion.

I always think that sweet box is one of the most underrated winter flowers because at first glance it doesn’t look like much.

It has small, glossy dark green leaves and in winter it produces small, fairly unremarkable white flowers. But it is their wonderful scent that makes this small shrub a winner.

The flowers are followed by glossy dark berries that have their own charm.

As a member of the box family, Sarcococca can be used as topiary and it is a tolerant plant. Happy in shade, it is one of the best shrubs for under trees, and can even tolerate dry conditions once it gets established, though keep it well watered if grown in a container.

Sarcococca plants are available from Garden Goods Direct.

FAQs

What Makes Good Winter Ground Cover?

Ground cover is a gift to the winter garden because it adds interest, provides a shelter for beneficial pollinators (and therefore food for garden birds) and also helps to protect the soil from being damaged by high winds, driving rain, heavy snow and hard frosts.

Variegated ivy works well as an attractive background plant, and the flowers and leaves of cyclamen also provide interest.

Bearberry is good choice as its leaves turn red, adding to their winter charm, and it also produces berries, and the greeny-purple leaves of Ajuga are also very attractive, being followed by short spikes of blue flowers in spring.

How Can I Help My Winter Plants Thrive?

To get the best from plants, whatever the time of year they flower, is to make sure your soil is healthy, drains well and is full of nutrients.

Enrich it with plenty of well-rotted horse manure, leaf mulch or homemade compost which is the best natural fertilizer for all plants and helps them grow strongly.

Act promptly when you see signs of pests and disease and make sure you prune trees and shrubs correctly and with the appropriate tools, to avoid the most common pruning mistakes.

There is no need for your garden to look sparse and boring in winter when there are so many plants, trees and shrubs offering color and interest.

Many of them are well-known, but if you seek out these underrated plant varieties you will end up not just with a beautiful yard of year-round interest, but something a little bit different too.