I love wandering around a garden on a frosty day, feeling the winter sunshine on my face. It gives me a real sense of the bones of the garden, its shaping and its structure before all the flowers in their multi-coloured abundance are spilling over the paths. The perfect time of year to take stock, particularly in my own garden, does the shape of that path work? Is there enough height differential in the shrubs that I’ve added to the border to create the interest that I’m after? How has everything coped with its first or subsequent growing seasons.

However, I still want those bones and soil to have some colour and interest to it. Often the season that is most forgotten about. The nights are drawing in and by the time we arrive home from work there is very little daylight left, to look out and enjoy the view. Or perhaps we got carried away during those summer visits to the garden centre with all the stands of what’s looking good now and came away with armfuls of blooms that look good in July (I know I’ve done it before) but don’t do much in December. I like to think about the year-round interest when designing a garden or planning a border. Whether that is from colour or texture, or ideally a bit of both.

Colourful Stems

One of the best places to start looking for winter colour or texture is at the stems of the plant. There are an amazing array of shrubs or trees that create the perfect green backdrop. Setting the stage to show off all the star performers in summer. After which their leaves turn through hues of yellows, dazzling oranges and fiery reds in autumn before dropping all their leaves to show off gnarly bark and dazzling winter colours.

• Birch (Betula utilis subsp. jacquemontii) as well as the traditional trees are available as a multi-stemmed shrub, ideal for smaller gardens. They are smaller in size than the traditional tree and the branches are lower. The ghostly white stems in winter are stunning. To enjoy them for longer, adding a small spike mounted light shows them off as a focal point to draw the eye out of the window. Whether on a winter’s night or as the sun is going down in summer.
• There are other beautiful multi-stem shrubs, Amelanchier lamarckii or Prunus serrula with its red-brown coloured bark, one you feel you want to run your hands over as strips of it peel off.
• Acers show off their amazing displays of leaves in autumn, but often we forget colourful the bark is. The snake bark maple, Acer davidii with its green and white textured stems. Acer davidii‘Viper’ has mainly white stems with a hint of green colour. Where space is at a premium Acer palmatum ‘Bi Ho’ is an ideal variety, with its zingy yellow stems. It only grows up to two metres, and will happily live in a pot.
• Dogwoods (Cornus) have an amazing range of colourful stems, the acid green of Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’ to lighten up the garden. Cornus sanguinea‘Midwinter Fire’ starts as yellow rising to a vibrant red as you go up the stem, or the deep purple of Cornus alba ‘Kesselringii’.
• The stems of some willow varieties (Salix) have a similar palette to the Cornus family, from the yellow stems of Salix alba‘Golden Ness’, the orange rising to red stems of Salix alba subsp vitellina ‘Britzensis’. Not to mention the inky black Salix myrsinifolia.

Cornus or salix work best when planted in groups (at least three), either groups of one variety or offset with a complementary or contrasting colour. They look stunning planted as an alternative to traditional hedging plants, particularly when you see it lining a curved path, a wonderful way to draw you around the corner.

Leaves

Green is such a soothing, peaceful colour, even in the depths of winter. Evergreen plants are also the perfect way to add some structure and colour to the garden throughout the year. Here are a few of my favourites,

• Yew (Taxus baccata): The dark green foliage is ideal for hedging, creating a boundary and a backdrop to show off colourful summer flowers. Alternatively, as highlights of green, in the form of topiary cones and balls. Irish yew (Taxus fastigata) has a narrow habit, drawing the eye up, whether used to frame an entrance or dotted along a border to create a sense of rhythm.
• Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is the quintessential winter or Christmas plant, with its shiny green leaves and bright red berries (on the female varieties). My favourites are Ilex aquifolium ‘J.C. van Tol’, it has smoother leaves and is less prickly when pruning.
• Sarcococca confusa (Christmas box) is ideal in smaller spaces. I have written more about this shrub in the section on scented plants.
• Skimmia x confusa‘Kew Green’ has scented leaves with green buds opening to white flowers. Ideally planted with a female variety to enjoy the berries, such as Skimmia japonica ‘Nymans’.

Winter scent

Personally, I love plants that stir up more than more sense. Winter flowering shrubs are some of the best at this. Not only do they bring colour to the garden but they will fill the cold winter air with scent.

• Witch hazels make a great winter, focal point, with their spidery flowers. Hammamelis x intermedia‘Arnold Promise’ with its bright yellow spidery flowers or the coppery colour of Orange Peel.
• Daphne bholua‘Jacqueline Postill’ (grows up to four metres high) or in smaller spaces Daphne odora (grows up to 1.5 metres). Both are strongly scented with delicate pale pink flowers, flowering from January to February and sometimes into March (although best grown in sheltered spots as they may need protection from frosts). 
• The evergreen Viburnum tinushas tiny pink flowers and makes a great backdrop with its deep green leaves to colourful perennials the rest of the year. Lisarose has deep pink-red buds opening to pale pink and Eve Price is a paler pink variety.
• Viburnum x bodnantense‘Dawn’ has highly scented deep pink fading to pale pink flowers. The flowers are the star of the show, blooming on bare branches.
• Sarcococcaconfusa (Christmas Box) is an evergreen shrub with tiny white flowers. It is amazing how such a small flower will fill the air with scent. Perfect for lining a path or driveway. The purple stemed Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Winter Gem’ only grows to around half a metre. Ideal for a pot or to fit in a small gap.
• Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’) with its white bell-shaped flowers work well trained against a wall. It doesn’t mind if you cut off a small branch or two to bring indoors. It will fill the room as much as it fills the garden with scent.

Flowers

Hellebores are the quintessential winter flower. They can be layered between shrubs or trees and lower growing cyclamen or snowdrops. They will also add winter colour to pots. The earlier varieties start flowering around Christmas, with later varieties flowering into spring,

• The pure white Helleborus niger (known as the Christmas rose).
• Helleborus purpurascens with its pink-purple flowers will often start flowering slightly earlier than advertised, around December time.
• The traditional white of or Helleborus ‘Verboom Beauty’ or the dusky Helleborus orientalis ‘Pretty Ellen Purple’ are more compact varieties.
• The Harvington Hybrids are larger varieties with leaves that will flop around the borders and come in an amazing array of amazing deep and dusky colours to the more delicate pale and pink colours. Starting at one end with Helleborus x hybridus ‘Harvington Apricot’ with its pink edges moving on to Shades of Night, a really deep purple with tones of black.

Iris reticulata only grow to around 15 centimetres in height but come in deep velvet blues and purples.

• The vibrant blue of Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
• Iris ‘J.S. Dijt. Pixie has deep purple petals with a splash of yellow.
• Paler varieties include, the white and lemon yellow petals of Katherine’s Gold. The white with pale blue tips of Frozen Planet. Painted Lady has white petals with splashes of lilac. Almost like someone has painted the petals with a brush.

Winter Ground Cover

The flowering bulbs in winter are typically much shorter plants, growing from around 10 – 15 centimetres tiny jewels of colour dotting the garden. Being shorter makes then the perfect to under plant, at the edge of woodland or shady area or underneath deciduous shrubs. These tiny sparks of colour start in October,

•  The delicate pink of Cyclamen hederifolium that will flower on into November or perhaps the pure white of Cyclamen hederifolium var. hederifolium f. albiflorum.
• Cyclamen coum flower from December, adding colour into spring, just in time for the daffodils and tulips to takeover. Ranging from the pink of Cyclamen coum to the deep magenta of Cyclamen coum ‘Rubrum’. My personal favourite is Cyclamen coum subsp. coum f. pallidum ‘Album’. A white variety with deep red-purple splashes around the centre.
• Snowdrops benefit from being planted on mass, though the borders or the grass.  Galanthus nivalis is the traditional snowdrop we all see on Christmas cards. Galanthus elwesii has dots of green on the petals that almost looks like it has eyes. The more blousy Galanthus nivalis f. pleniflorus ‘Flore Pleno’ has green tips. It is easier to spot from a distance, helping you realise there is colour in the garden.
• The cheerful yellow of winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) are that perfect plant that will be equally happy in sun, lightly or more shaded areas. They give the feeling that the sun is shining through the bare branches and lighting up the garden.

I always plant snowdrops and winter aconites ‘in the green’, with roots already growing from the bulbs and green shoots poking out the top. Either by picking up pots from the local garden centre or ordering a bundle through the post. Often arriving in newspaper, ready to plant out. Many of these winter flowering plants once happily established with start multiplying over the years. It only needs a small collection to start adding colour to the garden or a pot in winter.

Camilla Grayley is an experienced garden designer, speaker and writer based in York. She designs gardens and creates planting designs for clients in Yorkshire and across the UK. Get in touch if you’d like help planning your garden for 2025 on 07887 926095 or info@camillagrayleydesign.com