These Winter Flowering Shrubs can make your monotonous winter garden interesting. You can also grow most of them in containers.

These winter shrubs with their unusual textures, foliage, colors, fragrance, and flowers can beautify your garden. Some even decorate themselves with bright and vibrant berries.

1. Scarlet Firethorn

After flowering from late spring to mid-summer, it bears astonishing orange to scarlet colored edible berries in fall and winter. Depending on the cultivar it can be evergreen or semi-evergreen.

2. Wintersweet

The name justifies this shrub because of the sweet fragrance of the blooms that appears in the dormant winter season and early spring. The stems become leafless in winters but bear start shaped flowers that have outer yellow and inner red purplish petals.

3. Higan Cherry

This small tree-like shrub can grow up to 6-9 meter (20-30 feet) tall. It blooms in fall, winter or spring, depending on the climate. Flowers change from deep pink to pale pink with time and looks so aesthetic, not only the flowers, but the foliage is also notable with serrated edges.

4. Arrowwood ‘Dawn’

It is a deciduous shrub with uniquely shaped oval leaves. The clustered pink flowers are scented and long lasting and appear in the winter and early spring. Red, black or blue colored berries are followed up by the flowers.

5. Witch Hazel

The name alone is enough to pique up the interest of many gardeners. The yellow blooms of this plant spread an enticing fragrance in the surrounding in winters. Bizzare thin ribbons shape of the flowers also makes it stand out. If that is not enough, this shrub has many medicinal uses as well–treating insect bites, sunburn and as an aftershave lotion.

6. Clematis Jingle Bells

It’s an evergreen vining plant which flowers in winter and early springs. The recurved white to yellow petals with freckled red of nodding flowers steal the show in winters. Also, they spread a mild sweet scent which is definitely a mood enhancer.

7. Paperbush

These Winter Flowering Shrubs can make your monotonous winter garden interesting, you can also grow most of them in containers.

8. Winter Daphne

The late appearing blooms in late winter and spring spread intoxicating fragrance in the air. Small tubular shaped clustered flowers adorn the simple dark green foliage. To enjoy the fragrance place it near a wall, patio or a deck. It can grow up to four feet tall and wide, a nice option for container gardeners.

9. Sweet Box

If the glossy evergreen foliage is not enough, there are sweet honey-scented flowers that appear in winter and make this plant nostalgic. The compact structure and low height of around 4-5 feet of this shrub go well will the winter containers.

10. Cold-Hardy Camellias

Cultivars: Polar Ice, Winter’s charm, Snow Flurry, Winter’s Hope, Winter’s Rose and Winter’s Star

11. Siberian Dogwood

The amazing shrub for winter interest looks spectacular when it sheds all the leaves in the fall. Before falling, the foliage leaves us amazed with a glorious autumn shade.

12. Honeysuckle ‘Winter Beauty’

It’s a deciduous shrub or climber with a bush-like growing habit. Intensely scented flowers that appear in mid-winter and continue till mid-spring are mood lifter because of the sweet aroma.

13. Mahonia Winter Sun

In the dull, dead winters, the bright yellow blooms of this evergreen shrub look very cheerful. The upright prickly foliage that changes color with seasons enhances the ornamental quality of this plant.

14. Winter Jasmine

It stands out from other rivalry winter blooming plants. Masses of bright yellow flowers appear on the slender branches from late winters to early spring. Most commonly its grown as a wall shrub. As it makes a wonderful cut flower, you can brighten up the indoor space with it as well!

15. Winter Heath


This beautiful small shrub makes an excellent ground cover. It’s short and stout and grows only to about 6-12 inches. In the blooming season, it blooms so extensively that it covers the foliage.

16. Sky Pencil Holly

Standing tall and upright the sight of sky pencil holly is intimidating. It can grow between 3-5 meter (10-15 feet) tall but appears taller as it can’t grow wide. Use it in a mass planting, hedges or grow them in series in containers at the entrance, and they’ll make up for the absence of sentries.

17. Winter Aconite

In our list of winter shrubs, winter aconite is an exception–this small perennial ground cover plant grows to about 10 cm in height. The bright yellow flowers add a golden glow to the garden when planted in numbers. It can tolerate slight frost and cold but won’t do well in extreme weather. You can plant these plants in mass with ‘snowdrops’ or ‘Persian violet’ as they compliment each other.

18. Winterberry

Brighten up your winter landscape with the stunning berry display of this plant. Commonly known as deciduous holly the bright red berries with glossy green foliage of this plant are eye catchy.