We often think of the winter as cold, windy and bleak. Well, your garden doesn’t have to be that way. There are lots of things you can add to your garden to make it come alive with color, and structural interest.



While there aren’t a lot of plants that actually bloom in the winter there are a few. For instance Carolina jessamine is a bright yellow flowering vine that often shows color all winter in our climate. It sets it’s buds in the fall and usually they crack open in November and shows specks of yellow.


Gelsemium in full bloom  Photo by Jungle Jim

I have talked about Sasanquas before, but they deserve an additional mention with their showy three inch flowers from October through January depending of the weather.



Another is the Arbutus genus. It varies from Arbutus compacta which is an evergreen shrub to about 8 or 10 ft tall.to Arbutus marina a 20 ft plus tree  They all have clusters of small bell like blooms all winter. In addition to the flowers they also have red berries that hang on and are decorative  all winter.

Arbutus Marina  Photo by Jungle Jim

 Arbutus compacta                          arbutus compaca close up Photos by Jungle Jim

Other berry plants include Pyracantha, Holly, Cotoneaster, and Toyon.



We also cary several evergreen plants that develop attractive foliage color in the winter. Heavenly Bamboo or Nandina comes in several sizes from Royal Princess and Moyers Red at six to eight feet tall to Harbor Dwarf at about two feet and Thread Leaf Nandina a diminutive eighteen inches. 



I also enjoy the dwarf Nandina Firepower or nana purpurea, but be careful. They are small growing to about 2or 2 and one half feet tall and show great fall color. The problem is they need protection from the hot sun. You see them planted everywhere in full hot sunby inexperienced designers and landscapers where they bleach, burn and die!

Coprosma Roy’s Red and Karo Red intensify their color in the winter and Pink Dancer Indian Hawthorn turns a burgundy red in the cold weather. Purple Hopseed is a large shrub that grows eight to ten ft tall and turns deep purple.

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