As we arrive at the end of winter, new life in the garden begins to signal the start of spring, with the plants bursting back to life after a long sleep and rest. We’re enticed back out there, mainly to see how our plants have overwintered and fared through potentially unfavourable weather such as rain, cold and snow.
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No garden is complete without at least one or a selection of early flowering spring shrubs to spread the seasonal interest, stimulate our senses with fragrance and attract early pollinating insects. Visit any garden or garden centre at this time of year, and you’ll be soon persuaded of the highly ornamental impact that these early spring-flowering shrubs have, and are sure to find a position in the border or a container to plant one.
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- How to care and grow winter flowering shrub
- The best winter flowering shrubs for your garden
- Where to see and buy winter flowering shrubs
How to care and grow winter flowering shrubs
How to plant winter flowering shrubs
Take care when planting any of these shrubs that you don’t disturb any spring- flowering bulbs such as crocuses, snowdrops and cyclamen that complement them so well, and avoid spots where these are planted.
Shrubs that flower in early spring tend to be more fragrant, making them highly attractive to insects and, of course, gardeners
Rather than watering the plant in, it’s a good idea is to dunk the pot in a bucket of water, until any air bubbles have stopped rising to the surface, before planting to ensure there is enough moisture for the plant to establish. Knock the pot off the roots and check that the root system in the container hasn’t become pot bound and has some young healthy roots.
Tease out any roots when planting, and apply a good layer of mulch over the soil surface around the plant to prevent cold winds drying the root zone out; this also reduces the possibility of any damage to the roots from winter cold or frost.
The best winter flowering shrubs for your garden
Camellia ‘Inspiration’
This charming, hardy camellia is a medium-sized, shiny evergreen shrub with a compact upright habit, and is a hybrid of C. reticulata and C. saluenensis. Large, deep-pink, semi-double flowers, up to 10-12cm across and unscented, appear from December to March. Height and spread: 2.5-4m x 1.5-2.5m. AGM*. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b†.
Stachyurus chinensis
This is a medium-sized, spreading shrub with attractive, arching, purple, lateral young branchlets. The flowering catkins of cup-shaped, pale-yellow flowers, up to 12cm long, hang like curtains from these branches before the leaves appear in late winter to early spring. An RHS pollinator plant. 1.5-2.5m x 2.5-4m. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.
No garden is complete without at least one early flowering spring shrub to spread the seasonal interest and stimulate the senses with fragrance
Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’
A very useful border filler or container plant, this compact, evergreen, mound-forming shrub has shiny, deep-green leaves with panicles of dark-red flower buds produced in autumn and through the winter. The fragrant, male, white flowers open in early spring among the unopened red buds. An RHS pollinator plant. 1m x 1m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 6a-8b.
Berberis x stenophylla ‘Etna’
A small, fast-growing evergreen barberry with spreading, arching branches bearing spine-tipped dark-green leaves. The clusters of fiery-orange flowers, which emerge from red buds along the branches in March, are highlighted against the dark, shiny foliage. Ideal as a background shrub. 1-1.5m x 1-1.5m. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.
Chimonanthus praecox ‘Luteus’
This medium-sized bushy, deciduous shrub can be trained against a south- facing wall to encourage prolific flowering. The large, waxy, un-marked flowers are pure lemon-yellow, smell of bananas and appear on the bare stems before the leaves, slightly later in winter into spring than the species. 2.5-4m x 2.5-4m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 7a-9b.
Lonicera fragrantissima
The winter honeysuckle is a bushy semi-evergreen shrub from China producing pairs of very sweetly scented, cream-coloured flowers during late winter and early spring, which are sought after by early bees for the delicious pollen and nectar. An RHS plant for pollinators. 2.5m x 2.5m. RHS H6, USDA 4a-8b.
Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Grandiflora’
One of my favourite late-winter, early spring-flowering deciduous shrubs. Native to China but long cultivated in Japan, it makes a bushy shrub with stout stems. The large fragrant yellow flowers clothed in white silky hairs open from the terminal hairy buds before the leaves appear. 1-1.5m x 1-1.5m. RHS H4, USDA 7a-10b.
Ribes x beatonii
Also known as Ribes x gordonianum, this ornamental currant, a hybrid between R. sanguineum and
R. aureum, makes a delightful spreading deciduous shrub with small, aromatic lobed leaves. The very attractive and unusual drooping racemes of two-tone coloured red and yellow flowers emerge from deep pink-red buds in March and are very aromatic. 1.5-2.5m x 1.5-2.5m. RHS H6, USDA 5a-7b.
Forsythia ovata ‘Tetragold’
The larger than normal yellow flowers of this Korean forsythia cultivar, raised in the Netherlands, have little or no scent and appear along the bare stems earlier, in late winter to early spring, than the straight species. Low growing with a dense bushy habit. 1-1.5m x 1-1.5m. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.
Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
A vigorous, upright, deciduous shrub producing clusters of deliciously fragrant, dark-pink flowers on the bare stems. The flowers lose their colour, turning white as they age, from late autumn through to early spring. Popular and hard working. 1.5-2.5m x 1-1.5m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 5a-7b.
Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’
An unusual and architectural bushy shrub with glaucous leaves and masses of furry, pinkish-red catkins with silvery hairs along the naked stems. Treat like a winter stem plant and prune hard every two to three years to encourage new stems. 2.5-4m x 2.5-4m. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’
Guaranteed to brighten up any part of the garden with an abundance of bright, sulphur- yellow flowers along the bare stems in late winter and early spring. The delicate sweet- scented flowers will draw you to this shrub. 2.5-4m x 2.5-4m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 5a-8b.
Where to see and buy
- Borde Hill Garden Borde Hill Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1XP. Tel 01444 450326, bordehill.co.uk
- Burncoose Nurseries Gwennap, Redruth, Cornwall TR16 6BJ. Tel 01209 860316, burncoose.co.uk Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5NZ. Tel 0131 248 2909, rbge.org.uk
- RHS Harlow Carr Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 1QB. Tel 01423 565418, rhs.org.uk
- The Savill Garden Wick Lane, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey TW20 0UJ. Tel 01753 860222, windsorgreatpark.co.uk