The answer is absolutely! There are many plants that will bloom in our regional zone (6A or 6B) to give a succession of colour through the drab winter months, but even things such as simply considering the structures of plants or buildings in the garden can create wonderful winter interest.
If we start with trees, many of the Acer’s although not flowering, have wonderful coloured bark or striped bark that is superb to view from a wintry window, the same is true for crepe myrtles, which as they age have great colouration on the bark (cinnamon is a primary colour and it just makes you want to go and touch the trunk!) Paper bark birches have wonderful exfoliating trunks, the layers of bark increase with the age of the tree. Even something as simple as the multi-stem white birch can be highly attractive when up-lit at night, giving a reflective view upon snowy ground.
A number of shrubs have great coloured stems including the red and yellow twig dogwoods and many of the brambles (considered to be weeds by many) are often removed as unsightly but create wonderful structure in an otherwise empty time of year. Witch hazels can bloom as early as November and as I am writing this a clump at the front of our house has been in bloom since early January. Evergreens such as boxwood can give just as much colour at this time of year as anything that flowers and a well-placed grouping can have a major impact on any landscape. You can also consider the many variegated plant options for additional interest, we have just planted a small variegated boxwood and are trying a variegated English holly to add another layer of depth to our planting schemes.
The greatest thing about this time of year for me is the beginning of the succession of bulbs. We have a range of bulbs that has started flowering as early as December 6th and continues well into June, before summer bulbs come into their own. Rijnveld’s Early Sensation is a two toned yellow narcissus that will slowly naturalize and is the earliest blooming bulb we have. The early flowering is highly dependent on the weather conditions and this year it is only just coming into bloom. It is closely being followed by the snowdrops under one of the maples. Winter aconites with their cheerful yellow flowers have never managed to grow here at the house but we did successfully plant a large cluster (about three hundred bulbs) that has established and continues to flourish at a customer’s farm in The Plains, they also have an added advantage of not being eaten by deer!
Perennials tend to be a little thin at this point in the year but hellebores are a fantastic addition to any garden. The old leaves fade (and for full visual effect should be removed) and reveal flowers that stand tall (about 6-8”) through snow and wind and are available in many colours and patterns. This evergreen grows in clumps that will seed freely and make themselves at home in a border or woodland area. A number of ferns hold their colour and even those that die down to the ground often leave fronds that add to the gardens allure in the depths of winter. Cinnamon fern and Christmas fern are particular favourites forming good sized clumps which you can divide and share with friends!
