Willing winter bloomers to consider beyond evergreens

Look beyond evergreens to spruce up your winter garden. Here is some information to consider when planting for cooler climates.

If you have acid soil and partial or filtered shade to accommodate them, camellias can be counted upon to colour up winter in mild climates. Many varieties bloom best in late fall, after the weather has cooled down and you are likely to be spending more time in your yard where you can enjoy their large, rose-shaped, white, pink, or carmine blossoms.

In woodland areas, consider growing cyclamen around the base of the trees for the off-season charm of their little winged flowers, and let spring come early with the blooming of evergreen hellebores. Evergreen leatherleaf mahonia is a mainstay in many gardens with mild winters, both because it holds its foliage year-round and because its yellow flowers appear before winter has come to an end.

Add fragrance to your winter garden with witch hazels. These woody plants can be grown either as shrubs or small trees. Even one of these filtered-shade loving plants, stationed among larger deciduous trees, is enough to provide delicate yellow flower colour and a pervasive perfume in the season when it's least expected.

Consistent cool weather, with few hard freezes, makes the climates of coastal sections of the West just right for growing half-hardy bulbs, such as alstroemeria, crocosmia, and nerine year-round. Prepare new plantings or divide old ones in fall or first thing in spring.

In any mild-winter climate, there are a handful of cold-hardy annuals waiting to be discovered for wintertime entertainment. Consider planting dusty miller, dianthus, flowering cabbage and kale, pansies, and snapdragons. You can find them in garden centres as autumn bedding plants in areas where they'll flourish long after autumn has come and gone. They may bloom little during the shortest days of winter, but will provide great colour again in early spring.

When in doubt about the staying power of not-quite-hardy plants, such as snapdragons, plant them in a sheltered place. A wall or building can absorb heat during the day and warm nearby plants at night. Such a sheltered spot also shelters plants against damage from harsh winter winds. In mild-winter climates, you can also use winter to practice and refine your outdoor seed-sowing skills. Annuals like larkspur and poppies should be sown in winter.

Neither is a good candidate for transplanting, because of their low survival rate, yet both are easily grown from seed sown outdoors in late autumn or early winter. Unless every seed germinates and the seedlings are terribly crowded, wait until early spring to thin them. Invariably, a small percentage will be lost over winter to hungry rabbits or root rot in cold, wet soil.