You can have beautiful color in your garden including during the winter season but you have to start now. The fall season is upon us and somehow our annual plants are beginning to die slowly. This is a good time to think about your garden and start planting winter blooming plants.

Brighten up those dreary winter months by planting some blooming plants that will survive the winter. While winter months can be long and cold, you don’t have to feel its effect when your garden has lots of color and looks alive. Believe me, this is a sure cure for those winter blahs.

Let’s face it, if you can have beautiful blooms in the spring and summer, why not in the winter? We spend lots of time and effort in our gardens during spring and summer so why should it die in the winter? Spend some time planning now for your winter plantings and to help you in the process, here are some winter blooming plants that I am familiar with.

Helleborus Winter Jewels Cherry Blossom – Botanical name is the same
This is a new series of colored formed Hellebores called the Winter Jewels Cherry Blossom and these are beautiful. It offers large 3-inch blooms that remain attractive for weeks or even months. The blooms are almost translucent with a pale green, cream and white base slightly freckled in raspberry which builds up to a slender raspberry edge at the edge of each petal. There is also a faint green stripe up the center of each petal but what makes this flower so beautiful is the center of the bloom which is crowned with a thick heavy ruffled raspberry and maroon collar.

Cherry Blossom flowers from late winter and goes well into the spring on plants 20 inches high and 24 inches wide. These are also great as cut flowers. This is truly a great choice of perennial for winter to spring color in your garden. It is also deer and rabbit resistant and grows well in zones 4-8.

Cyclamen ‘Something Magic – Botanical name is the same
This is the first hardy Cyclamen to have been propagated by tissue culture. It blooms heavily in late winter and early spring and it is ideal for planting under trees, shrubs or in the border of your garden. The blooms are butterfly like in deep pink to lilac and are held on 6-inch stems of maroon-red color. These will definitely stand out in any bleak winter landscape.

The foliage looks great too because it is light cream and green with a large dark green blotch in the center that almost looks like there is another leaf on top of the first one for an eye-catching appeal. Something Magic goes dormant in the summer and comes back in the winter months. You can plant this beauty in zones 5-9.

Helleborus Niger – Botanical name is the same
Niger will give you at least three months of gorgeous blooms but prefers shade. It is considered a hard to find plant but loved by many gardeners worldwide. Large almost 2-inch flowers open in white and then matures to dusty pink.

The leaves are impressive as well in that these are evergreen, leathery looking to enhance Niger’s beauty. It blooms from winter to early spring adding gorgeous color to your garden when it needs it the most. It grows up to 12 inches high and grows well in zones 3-8.

I really hope you will consider some of these winter plants to add beauty to your garden during the winter months. No, your garden will not be overflowing with flowers like during the summer months, but you can add some color to the winter landscape with a few carefully chosen blooming plants.

To your gardening success,
Diana