6 Evergreen Winter Flowering Shrubs for a Small Garden

Flowers aren’t just reserved for the spring and summer! There are some gorgeous winter-flowering shrubs that provide vibrant color, delicate flowers, and enticing scents in the cold depths of winter.

In a small garden, every plant counts. So choosing shrubs that provide interest for more than one season is always a great way to make the most of your space.

Evergreen plants are useful for providing year-round foliage, but you can have fragrant flowers and colorful petals in winter too!

In winter, especially, having some color, fragrance, and foliage can really cheer up a garden space. So instead of planting deciduous plants that die back as the frosts hit, check out these evergreen winter flowering plants to add some vibrancy to your garden in winter.

Related Read | How to Protect Your Container Plants from Frost

Winter flowering shrubs for beautiful winter flowers

Fill your small garden space with these evergreen winter flowering shrubs to provide color and interest when everyone else’s gardens are lying dormant!

1. Chinese Witch Hazel (Loropetalum)

Loropetalum produces delicate, star-shaped flowers that look like tassels. It’s a beautiful evergreen that flowers from late winter and into spring.

They’re also one of my favorite plants with purple foliage. You can find varieties like Loropetalum ‘Black Pearl’ with purple leaves and bright pink flowers. Or for a softer look, you can also find them with cream flowers and green foliage.

USDA hardiness zone: 7-10

2. Heather (Calluna)

Heather can provide incredibly vibrant color in winter. You can find varieties with flowers in colors like fuchsia pink, fiery orange, and lemon yellow. They’re small, evergreen shrubs that work well in rockeries, borders, containers, and even window boxes.

USDA hardiness zone: 6-8

3. Viburnum

Often known as a ‘winter hydrangea’, viburnum produces tight clusters of star-shaped flowers — but through the winter! There are deciduous and evergreen varieties, so look out for evergreen viburnums for year-round foliage.

It’s a reliable and easy-to-grow shrub. But they can grow to be over 8ft tall and wide, so keeping them in a container can be one way of reducing their size.

USDA hardiness zone: 3-10 (depending on the variety)

4. Camellia 

Think big showy blooms are only for summer? Not with camellias! With lush, evergreen foliage, camellias also produce large blooms that are often likened to peonies.

You can find both winter-flowering and spring-flowering camellias, so make sure to look out for winter-flowering varieties.

USDA hardiness zone: 7-10

5. Mahonia 

Mahonia shrubs produce drooping clusters of fragrant yellow flowers from autumn until spring. The flowers provide a food source for pollinators, and the blue-black berries are usually enjoyed by birds too.

Mahonias are known for their spiked foliage, but ‘Soft Caress’ Mahonia is a great option that literally provides a softer look and texture.

USDA hardiness zone: 7-9

6. Winter Daphne

A gorgeous little shrub that’s a perfect winter flowering evergreen for balconies or porches. Reaching about 3 feet in height and width, it’s a lovely compact evergreen with dark green leathery, pointed oval leaves. But in winter it puts out beautiful clusters of highly fragrant, star-shaped flowers.

The flowers are usually white with a soft pink color on the outside. For an extra color boost, you can often find variegated Winter Daphne varieties too with deep green leaves edged with cream.

USDA hardiness zone: 6-10