Six of the best: flowering wall shrubs and climbers for the winter garden

Six of the best: flowering wall shrubs and climbers for the winter garden

During the heady days of summer, basking in the scent of climbing roses and jasmine, it’s easy to forget that, come the darker days of winter, some walls and fences may look a little bare and neglected. True, most of us don’t spend that much time in the garden over the colder months, but looking out on winter blooms is infinitely better for the soul than staring at bare surfaces. Winter-flowering wall climbers and shrubs, like their spring, summer and autumn counterparts, also provide valuable habitats for wildlife and nectar for insects that may be out and about.

Wall shrubs are simply shrubs grown next to a wall and often trained up or along it instead of being free-standing. Some woody plants have a growth habit that’s just a little too flexible to be naturally self-supporting. This laxness can be overcome either by pruning to encourage a thicker, stronger main stem and branches, or by providing a vertical surface that they can be tied into for support.

It’s also an ideal way to grow more tender shrubs as a wall provides extra warmth in winter and a degree of frost protection that can make all the difference. Several hardy winter-flowering shrubs bloom more generously when grown in this way as the additional heat early in summer or autumn boosts developing buds. It’s a good way of making use of space in a small garden too.

All the plants we’ve suggested here except Clematis ‘Winter Beauty’ are hardy to at least -5 degrees C. Most of the shrubs can be grown as free-standing plants but will do better with the protection of a wall or fence.

Scent-sible tip: place fragrant but different plants some distance away from each other. This will mean the scents won’t compete or clash and you’ll get maximum impact from all of them.

1. Jasminum nudiflorum (winter-flowering jasmine): blooms from January – March

Is it a shrub? Is it a climber? Introduced from China in 1844, it looks somewhere in between the two but is more of an energetically sprawling shrub than a twining climber. Cheery yellow blooms pop up on bare, green, woody stems with small dark green leaves appearing when flowering finishes. It will scramble happily over low walls and fences but needs support to grow vertically up a higher structure. Unlike other jasmines it isn’t scented, but the flowers do attract winter insects. It’s happy in full sun or part shade.

2. Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ and Lonicera fragrantissima (both known as winter honeysuckle): blooming between December and February

Unlike many flowering honeysuckles these aren’t climbers but shrubs, producing highly fragrant, sweetly-scented creamy white blossoms, generally on bare wood. It’s a scent of the kind that has you wandering around unfamiliar public gardens and parks searching for the source. The flowers are sometimes followed by red berries. Thriving in full sun to part-shade, these are really pretty tough customers; both fall into RHS hardiness category H6 and will withstand temperatures of between -15 and -20 degrees C.

3. Clematis cirrhosa and Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’: flowering between December and February/March

You may think of clematis as spring and summer bloomers but a number put on a show in winter. HaHHrdy and reliable evergreen Clematis cirrhosa has many forms. With their hanging, bell-shaped flowers, smaller than the large-flowered late-summer flowering types, they’re the stars of the winter garden. One of the most popular is C. cirrhosa ‘Wisley Cream’ with its whitish, green-tinted blooms. The flowers of C. cirrhosa var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’ are heavily speckled in vibrant magenta, while those of C. cirrhosa var. balearica are more delicately freckled in a paler rosy-brown. All can be scented, although not always reliably so, and need full sun to part shade.

Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’ has bell-like white flowers too, but these are more closed than those of C. cirrhosa and the dark-green leaves are larger and more striking. Less hardy than C. cirrhosa, it will withstand temperatures of -5 to 1 degree C. https://www.gardensillustrated.com/plants/best-winter-flowering-clematis/

4. Chimonanthus praecox (wintersweet): flowers in January and February

Aptly-named wintersweet has small, pale yellow blossoms with reddish-purple centres that appear on bare wood. The flowers of this shrub may look a tad underwhelming but make up for their lack of visual impact with their powerful fragrance. (It’s sometimes said that this is a feature of winter flowers – they tend to be smaller than summer ones but are often more highly scented to attract pollinators. I’m not sure though, whether this has any basis in fact.)

As well as the species form there are a couple of cultivars on the market. The flowers of C. praecox ‘Lutea’ are entirely yellow but not as highly scented. ‘Grandiflorus’ has larger blooms but has retained the purple centre. Wintersweet thrives in full sun so a south-facing wall is ideal; the extra summer warmth gives the developing buds a boost so you’ll get better winter flowers.  However, a west-facing wall or fence is definitely worth a try if this isn’t possible.

Like wisteria they can sometimes take a couple of years to begin flowering but are well worth the wait!

5. Camellias: flowering between November and February

You’re probably familiar with the bold blooms of Camellia japonica lighting up gardens in late winter and early spring. But they have a relative who arrives on the scene a little earlier. Sasanqua camellias begin to display their white, crimson or pink flowers around November but often still have blooms in December and January. Some have scented flowers.

Although the plants themselves are hardy, the flowers are slightly delicate so appreciate the protection offered by a wall. Early morning sun can damage the flower buds however, so it’s best to avoid east-facing aspects. C. japonica prefers part or dappled shade but C. sasanqua is happy in more sun so should be fine against a south-facing wall or fence.

Camellias prefer acid to neutral soil so if yours is chalky and alkaline, add a good dose of ericaceous compost, composted bracken or leaf mould to the planting hole.  Feed in spring with ericaceous fertiliser. For this reason it’s also advisable to use rainwater if you live in a hard water area.  Frost and snow can damage buds. https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-camellias/

6. Garrya elliptica: in bloom from December to March

You may have seen garrya with its long and abundant silvery catkins in a local park but this striking shrub has a place in our gardens too. And yes, catkins, although it’s easy to miss this, are flowers. Look closely and you’ll see that each one is in fact an elongated cluster of tiny, simple blooms, closed at the start of their season but opening gradually as time passes.

https://www.treeguideuk.co.uk/mini-guides/catkins/

The male catkins of Garrya elliptica can grow to 15-20cm (6-8ins) long and the shrub itself can reach an impressive height and spread of 4m (13ft) if left to its own devices, so it’s not a plant for a small garden. However, you can keep it in check to some extent by pruning after flowering. Beware of hard-pruning too often though as this can affect flowering after a few seasons. All in all it’s an impressive plant which has the added benefit of being evergreen with dark, glossy leaves. It’s happy in full sun to part shade.

We may be living through a new winter of discontent, but our gardens, as ever, are there to come to our rescue. Winter-flowering plants can be a source of joy and lift the spirits when everything else might feel a little bleak.