The Top Best Flowers for January Gardens
Some of the best flowers for January gardens are also some of the most fragrant. Although small flowers have to work hard to attract the attention the few insects that are around this time of year! Even in the depths of winter there are always things to be seen in a well designed garden. I’ve put together some of my favourites that will cope with winter temperatures in my local climate in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties.
Flowers that bloom in January UK
🌸 Christmas Rose – Helleborus Niger
One of the loveliest of flowers for this month is the Christmas Rose (Helleborus Niger, the black Hellebore).
We find that as landscape garden designers, it’s such an easy, obliging plant, tough as old boots but much prettier. I grow mine in a slightly raised bed so I can see the beauty of the nodding flower heads.
If you have a shady spot in your garden and want some winter interest, this is a perfect plant choice for you. Hellebores come in many different shades and colours, they are perfect for creating an under drop for trees in winter. It’s the type of plant that every garden should have.
🌸 Lonicera fragrantissima
Shrubs that are flowering at the moment include one of my favourites, the winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima and L. x purpusii), which fills the air with wonderful scent. I made a mistake when I planted mine right at the end of the garden a couple of years ago… it really needs to be nearer the door to be fully appreciated. However, they make good cut plants and I bring stems into the house.
🌸 Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’
Unlike most heathers, this attractive, slightly trailing, evergreen shrub will tolerate some alkaline in the soil, so if you love the look of heathers but don’t have an acid soil, this plant makes a good choice.
The ideal situation for heathers is in a rock garden, where the soil is free draining. They will not tolerate being water-logged at all and do best in an open sunny site. After flowering, trim off the old flowers with shears and give a little dressing of compost to encourage more of the charming little flowers the following January. There’s also a pretty pink version available, ‘Springwood Pink’.
🌸 Daphne Mezereum-Best Flowers for January Garden!
Toward the end of a mild January, this beautiful little shrub demands attention, it almost shrieks ‘look at me!’ You often smell its perfume before noticing the clusters of bright pink flowers, perfect in a sheltered spot near an entrance to be admired by visitors to your garden.
🌸 Viburnum farreri
Is very similar to the more familiar V. x bodnantense. Both obligingly flower throughout the winter months and are grown for their fragrant, pinkish-white flowers that bloom in late autumn or early winter. If you cut a few sprigs to bring into the house, you will notice just how strong the scent is!
🌸 Mahonia japonica and M. ‘Charity’
Sometimes common plants are common for a reason and I think Mahonias fall into that category. Known as ‘car park plants,’ Mahonias are grown because they will flower obligingly all winter with no fuss or particular attention. They look good in a shady spot where nothing much else will grow, producing a blaze of cheerful, scented yellow flowers until spring flowers take over.
🌸 Winter Jasmine
This vigorous shrubby climber is easy to grow and easy to train on wires or a trellis, but it looks just as attractive left to scramble freely over low walls. ‘Vigorous’ means it can get a bit unruly if left to its own devices, so plant with caution and be prepared to prune back hard every year or it will take over!
🌸Viburnum tinus
Is a dense, evergreen shrub with dark and oval, glossy leaves, which contrast beautifully with fragrant pinkish-white flowers. It does get very big but can easily be cut back to keep in check. I have a standard variety which has been in a container for at least five years and flowers reliably all winter. It is one of my favourite plants in the garden for its reliability and ‘unfussiness’.
🌸 Winter Bulbs – Best flowers for January Garden!
For me, one of the pleasures of the winter garden is spotting the first bulbs to emerge. It is usually a tie between the first plucky little snowdrops and the bright yellow winter aconites, usually seen in a local wood. They herald the first signs of spring and no garden should be without swathes of bulbs in January, giving hope that brighter, sunnier days are on the way 😀🌼 One of the best gardens to see snowdrops is Colesbourne Park
Finally we have more ideas for winter flowers, if this wasn’t enough here!